Politics

(WASHINGTON) — In the dead of night at 2:09 a.m. on Friday, the House passed a bill to extend FISA through April 30 by unanimous consent, after Republicans tanked procedural votes on the controversial warrantless surveillance law. 

The short-term extension buys GOP leaders more time to continue negotiations amid Republican infighting over the program that was set to expire on Monday.

The program allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant, including when those people are interacting with Americans. 

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the U.S. government believes it’s a vital tool for protecting the country against “hostile foreign adversaries, including terrorists, proliferators, and spies, and to inform cybersecurity efforts.”

The Senate approved a 10-day extension of FISA by voice vote Friday morning, giving Congress more time to negotiate reforms on the bill. 

President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to back the measure and hosted a group of hardliners at the White House Tuesday night to find a path forward as the law is set to expire on Monday. 

“I am asking Republicans to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean Bill to the floor. We need to stick together when this Bill comes before the House Rules Committee today to keep it CLEAN!” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday.

“Our Military Patriots desperately need FISA 702, and it is one of the reasons we have had such tremendous SUCCESS on the battlefield,” Trump added. “It has already prevented MANY such Attacks, and it is very important that it remain in full force and effect.”

Despite opposition from some GOP hardliners, House Speaker Mike Johnson was this week still trying to determine a path forward to muscle through an 18-month clean extension of the program.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters Friday that Congress can no longer afford to “go dark” on the issue, amid the pushback from some Democrats and hardline Republicans. 

“We can’t wait around for long,” he said. “We’ve got to pivot and figure out what can pass.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe attended the House Republican closed-door conference meeting on Wednesday and also advocated for a clean extension of the program. 

Some Republicans, who oppose a clean extension of the surveillance tool and demand reforms like a warrant requirement, were not convinced to change their position following the meeting. 

 

Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland said “no” when asked if progress was made on FISA during the meeting.

“They have to deal with the FISA court’s objection to the warrantless searches,” Harris said.

There has been a continued debate over Section 702 because it sometimes allows the government to collect Americans’ communications without a warrant.

“Discussions are ongoing still,” Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona said leaving.

Rep. Keith Self of Texas, who attended the White House meeting on Tuesday night, said he does not believe a clean extension will pass. 

“We’ll see … but, I don’t think the clean extension will pass,” he said.

After the meeting, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise suggested some “minor changes” could be made to the legislation to appease the holdouts but did not divulge specifics.

“FISA has been important for our country’s national security,” Scalise said. “We’ve put some important much needed reforms in place the last time it was up for reauthorization and what President Trump has asked is that now we reauthorize it with those reforms in place, and that’s what we’re working to do. So, we’re having some final conversations. Not all of our members are quite there yet.” 

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said several Republicans “want to see further reforms” to the program. 

“We feel like we need improvements. Obviously, we want greater protections for citizens with respect to warrants,” he said. “We want to make sure that there’s greater penalties, for example, for government officials who abuse their authority and power.” 

Scalise said Ratcliffe explained to Republicans how FISA is being “used in the real world to stop bad things from happening.”

As he was leaving, Ratcliffe said the meeting “went great.”

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(WASHINGTON) — Former President Barack Obama, in a video shared exclusively with ABC News, called on Virginians to vote in favor of a redistricting measure that could give Democrats a boost in the 2026 midterms if it passes.

“By voting yes, you can push back against the Republicans trying to give themselves an unfair advantage in the midterms,” Obama said in the video shared with ABC News. “By voting yes, you can take a temporary step to level the playing field. And we’re counting on you.”

Over a million Virginians have voted early already, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, in an April 21 statewide referendum that will decide if the Democratic-controlled legislature should be allowed to redraw the state’s congressional map.

That would allow the legislature to implement a map it already advanced that would reconfigure four congressional seats to favor Democrats, which could be decisive in the midterm elections for the U.S. House of Representatives given Republicans’ current slim majority.

Democrats — including Obama, who previously starred in an advertisement for the “yes” side — have argued that it’s a necessary counterweight to mid-decade redistricting in 2025 that redrew nine seats to favor Republicans.

Republicans and other opponents of the redistricting gambit, which is also still facing a court challenge even as the election was allowed to proceed, have slammed the move as unfair to a large swath of Virginia voters. President Donald Trump received 46% of the vote in Virginia in the 2024 election.

“Virginia is a very purple state, and there’s a wide variety of voices in Virginia,” U.S. Rep. Jen Kiggans, a Republican whose district is redrawn by the proposed new map, told ABC News. “And for one political party to come in and assume that it’s their way or the highway, and to force that down Virginians’ throats — this will come back to bite them.”

The “Yes” side has fundraised and spent millions more on advertisements than the “No” side, according to campaign finance filings and an analysis by AdImpact. It’s also been bolstered by celeb power from figures such as Kerry Washington, John Legend and Pusha T.

Yet polling has still shown a close race, despite the seeming momentum behind the “Yes” efforts. A Washington Post-Schar School poll conducted in late March, after early voting had begun in the state, found that 52% of likely voters in the referendum supported the move, while 47% were opposed — a result just outside the poll’s margin of error.

Why does it appear so close? J. Miles Coleman, a political expert and analyst at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told ABC News that could be in part because for Democrats, the stakes may not seem as high as they are for Republicans.

“For Democrats, it would be nice to have these four extra seats out of Virginia if this map gets passed,” he said. “But I just think probably something driving enthusiasm on the Republican side is that, from their point of view, this vote probably seems more existential … they lost their statewide seats last year in a drubbing. They could very well stand to lose a lot of their federal representation.”

But Obama, in the video shared with ABC News, framed the stakes as having national importance.

“By voting yes, you have the chance to do something important — not just for the Commonwealth, but for our entire country,” Obama said in the video.

(The video also serves as a way for Obama to reaffirm his support for the ballot measure, after allies of his harshly criticized mailers that used old quotes from Obama about redistricting to portray him as against the initiative.)

Some Democrats are not onboard.

Outside of an early polling site in Virginia on Thursday, Geoff Warrington, who works in tech and identified himself as a Democrat, told ABC News he had chosen to vote no because he believes it is “relatively unfair to essentially have redistricting temporarily to reallocate seats to sway an election.”

But for some Democratic “yes” voters, the referendum is a way for Democrats to be able to strike back while being locked out of power in the White House and Congress.

“I mean, the Republicans have been playing dirty, so I think the Democrats are good to play dirty,” Adan Hernandez, an engineer, told ABC News at a separate early voting site in Virginia on Thursday.

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(WASHINGTON) — In the dead of night at 2:09 a.m., the House passed a bill to extend FISA through April 30 by unanimous consent, after Republicans tanked procedural votes on the controversial warrantless surveillance law.

The short-term extension buys GOP leaders more time to continue negotiations amid Republican infighting over the program that was set to expire on Monday.

Despite opposition from some GOP hardliners, Speaker Mike Johnson was this week still trying to determine a path forward to muscle through an 18-month clean extension of the program known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The program allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant, including when those people are interacting with Americans.

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the U.S. government believes it’s a vital tool for protecting the country against “hostile foreign adversaries, including terrorists, proliferators, and spies, and to inform cybersecurity efforts.”

House Republican leaders postponed a debate and a procedural vote on FISA that had been scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The Senate now will need to consider the legislation.

President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to back the measure and hosted a group of hardliners at the White House Tuesday night to find a path forward as the law is set to expire on Monday.

“I am asking Republicans to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean Bill to the floor. We need to stick together when this Bill comes before the House Rules Committee today to keep it CLEAN!” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday.

“Our Military Patriots desperately need FISA 702, and it is one of the reasons we have had such tremendous SUCCESS on the battlefield,” Trump added. “It has already prevented MANY such Attacks, and it is very important that it remain in full force and effect.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe attended the House Republican closed-door conference meeting on Wednesday and also advocated for a clean extension of the program.

Hardline Republicans, who oppose a clean extension of the surveillance tool and demand reforms like a warrant requirement, were not convinced to change their position following the meeting.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland said “no” when asked if progress was made on FISA during the meeting.

“They have to deal with the FISA court’s objection to the warrantless searches,” Harris said.

There has been a continued debate over Section 702 because it sometimes allows the government to collect Americans’ communications without a warrant.

“Discussions are ongoing still,” Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona said leaving.

Rep. Keith Self of Texas, who attended the White House meeting on Tuesday night, said he does not believe a clean extension will pass.

“We’ll see … but, I don’t think the clean extension will pass,” he said.

After the meeting, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise suggested some “minor changes” could be made to the legislation to appease the holdouts but did not divulge specifics.

“FISA has been important for our country’s national security,” Scalise said. “We’ve put some important much needed reforms in place the last time it was up for reauthorization and what President Trump has asked is that now we reauthorize it with those reforms in place, and that’s what we’re working to do. So, we’re having some final conversations. Not all of our members are quite there yet.”

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said several Republicans “want to see further reforms” to the program.

“We feel like we need improvements. Obviously, we want greater protections for citizens with respect to warrants,” he said. “We want to make sure that there’s greater penalties, for example, for government officials who abuse their authority and power.”

Scalise said Ratcliffe explained to Republicans how FISA is being “used in the real world to stop bad things from happening.”

As he was leaving, Ratcliffe said the meeting “went great.”

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(WASHINGTON) — The acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Todd Lyons, who presided over the agency amid President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration crackdown, is planning to leave his post later this spring.

Lyons said he was leaving his role to spend more time with his family, according to his resignation letter reviewed by ABC News.

“My sons are both reaching a pivotal point in their lives and my wife and I wish to spend as much time as possible with them,” the letter reads. “This was not an easy decision, but I believe it is the right one for me and my family at this time. I am confident that ICE will continue to fulfill its vital responsibilities with integrity and professionalism.”

Lyons thanked the president for allowing him to serve.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin announced the move in a statement on Thursday and said Lyons’ last day would be May 31.

“Director Lyons has been a great leader of ICE and key player in helping the Trump administration remove murderers, rapists, pedophiles, terrorists, and gang members from American communities,” Mullin said in the statement. “He jumpstarted an agency that had not been allowed to do its job for four years. Thanks to his leadership, American communities are safer.”

The statement went on to say: “We wish him luck on his next opportunity in the private sector.”

As acting director, Lyons oversaw the largest expansion of ICE in U.S. history with funding through the massive tax and policy bill Trump championed last year, known as the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

During Lyons’ tenure, the Trump administration sent ICE officers into cities across the U.S., including Chicago, Los Angeles and Minneapolis, as part of stepped-up federal immigration enforcement efforts that aimed to fulfill one of Trump’s key campaign pledges.

Democrats, immigration advocates and local officials decried ICE tactics, including allegations of racial profiling and aggressive tactics. Scrutiny of ICE intensified after the shooting deaths of two U.S. citizens, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, in Minneapolis in January at the hands of immigration officers.

Members of the Trump administration praised Lyons’ leadership of the agency. In a statement, Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, said: “Todd has served selflessly as a highly respected and effective acting Director of ICE,” pointing to what he called a “record number of removals” in the first year of Trump’s second term, “despite unprecedented challenges.”

In appearances on Capitol Hill before lawmakers, Lyons has faced fierce criticism from Democrats, who have denounced the agency’s tactics and a rising number of deaths of detainees held in ICE custody.

The announcement of Lyons’ departure came the same day he appeared before a House subcommittee for a budget hearing, requesting $5.4 billion to sustain enforcement operations around the country and another $2.8 billion for Homeland Security Investigations.

“Despite routine villainization, ICE personnel are working around the clock to carry out President Trump’s commonsense agenda to make Americans safe again, restore order to our communities, and implement law-and-order policies,” Lyons said in his prepared testimony.

DHS funding remains snarled amid an ongoing partial government shutdown stemming from a dispute on Capitol Hill between Democrats and Republicans over changes to ICE tactics and policies.

Lyons started his service in the Air Force, then with a local police department in Florida before then joining what would become ICE in the late 1990s. He previously served as the head of the Boston ICE field office before becoming acting director.

The announcement of Lyons’ departure comes more than a month after Trump fired former DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump’s proposed 250-foot-tall “triumphal arch” at the National Mall in Washington, D.C., was given initial approval on Thursday by the Commission of Fine Arts, a federal agency, but revisions were requested to address the panel’s design concerns.

Five members on the commission, now made up entirely of Trump appointees, voted in favor of moving along with the project. The panel’s other two members were not present for the hearing.

The towering arch Trump wants to build near Arlington National Cemetery would be more than twice as tall as the Lincoln Memorial and taller than France’s Arc de Triomphe.

Protesters gathered outside the National Building Museum, where the commission has its office, and held up signs that read: “Stop Arch Insanity,” “No Trump Arch,” and “No Vanity Arch.”

The commission’s vote came after Thomas Luebke, its secretary, said nearly 1,000 public comments were submitted online and that “100% of the comments were against the project.”

Luebke said many of the comments characterized the project as “a waste of money and misuse of funds” and others said “that it would obstruct historic views and disrupt the landscape, it was inappropriate imperial or political symbolism, that the design was gaudy, oversized, incompatible, and that it was disrespectful to Arlington National Cemetery and military sacrifice.”

James McCrery, the commission’s vice chair and the initial architect behind Trump’s massive White House ballroom project, voiced a laundry list of concerns that he wants the architects of the arch to address.

McCrery opposed a planned 250-foot underground pathway for visitors to access the arch, saying building under the capital is “a really, really unfortunate thing.”

“Sometimes it’s absolutely necessary,” McCrery told Nicolas Charbonneau, the architect behind the arch. “Here, I think it’s not absolutely necessary at all.”

McCrery also took issue with proposed lion statues at the base of the arch, arguing they were not culturally American symbols.

“They’re not of this continent,” McCrery said. “They’re noble, they’re courageous, and they’re strong, they’re all those things, but maybe there are alternatives.”

And McCrery called on the architects to “open these arches and air them out” so they don’t obstruct views of other Washington landmarks.

Zachary Burt, the community outreach manager for the D.C. Preservation League, voiced his opposition to the arch during Thursday’s meeting.

Burt said the arch “threatens the solemn vista” between Arlington National Cemetery and the Lincoln Memorial and that its proposed size “risks overshadowing the revered landmarks that Americans hold in the highest regard.”

Lisa Fuller, who said she was a lifelong Washington-area resident, grew emotional recounting crossing Arlington Memorial Bridge as a kid as she argued the arch would obstruct views of the cemetery.

“I first walked across that bridge with my dad after John Kennedy died. We started at the Lincoln Memorial. My father told me all about it, and then we walked across, and we saw the Eternal Flame,” Fuller said.

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(WASHINGTON) — Prosecutors from the U.S. attorneys office in Washington were turned away Tuesday after they made an unannounced visit to the Federal Reserve, where they allegedly requested a tour of renovations that have attracted scrutiny from the Trump administration, sources familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News.

The unusual visit prompted immediate backlash from an attorney for Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, who wrote a letter to D.C. U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s office, citing the recent ruling from a federal judge that blocked subpoenas to the bank after determining DOJ’s criminal probe was driven by President Donald Trump’s political animus towards Powell.

Robert Hur, who formerly served as special counsel who investigated former President Joe Biden’s handling of classified documents and now represents Powell, warned DOJ in the letter reviewed by ABC News that future efforts to initiate contact with Fed representatives should be negotiated through legal counsel.

“As you know, Chief Judge [James] Boasberg has concluded that your interest in the Federal Reserve’s renovation project was pretextual. Should you wish to challenge that finding, the courts provide an avenue for you; it is not appropriate for you to try to circumvent it,” Hur said. “I ask that you commit not to seek to communicate with my client outside the presence of counsel.”

According to Hur’s letter, attorneys from Pirro’s office, Carlton Davis and Steven Vandervelden, and a case agent showed up at the Fed’s headquarters, stating they wished to “check on progress” and that they asked for a “tour.”

A source said they were then told they could not access the site without preauthorized clearance from Fed management and were given the contact information for the Fed’s legal counsel, after which the three left the area.

“Any construction project that has cost overruns of almost 80% over the original construction budget deserves some serious review,” Pirro said in a statement on X after the prosecutors were turned away. “And these people are in charge of monetary policy in the United States?”

Pirro publicly vented her frustrations about Boasberg’s ruling that effectively blocked her office from investigating Powell, which she has vowed to continue appealing despite threats from Republican Sen. Thom Tillis to block any confirmation of Powell’s replacement until the criminal probe is resolved.

The probe centered on Powell’s testimony to Congress last year about cost overruns in a multibillion-dollar office renovation project.

Trump on Wednesday again threatened to fire Powell if he does not step down when his term as chair ends May 15.

“I’ll have to fire him, OK, if he’s not leaving on time — I’ve held back firing him. I’ve wanted to fire him, but I hate to be controversial, you know, I want to be uncontroversial,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo.

Legal experts have questioned if Trump has the authority to fire Powell. His attempt to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook last year is currently awaiting a decision at the Supreme Court.

The confrontational visit also comes as Pirro’s name has repeatedly been floated as a potential permanent replacement for Pam Bondi as the next attorney general.

Powell rebuked the investigation in a video message in January as a politically motivated effort to influence the Fed’s interest rate policy.

Pirro, at a press conference in March, denied that politics played any role in her probe of Powell and the focus was whether public money has been wasted as a result of the Fed’s renovations, and potential false statements to Congress by Powell about the operations.

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(WASHINGTON) — Wednesday is Tax Day, the last day of this year’s tax season, and the average refund for filers is up 11% compared to last year’s filing season, according to new Treasury Department data.

The average refund this filing season is “over $3,400,” the Treasury Department data said.

The data, which is as of Tuesday, also showed that “over 53 million filers claimed at least one of President Trump’s signature new tax cuts,” which includes provisions from Trump’s sweeping legislation that was passed last year.

Treasury has also announced that more than 5 million filers have opened so-called Trump Accounts for children who were eligible under the law. 

“Treasury and the IRS have worked tirelessly to ensure our tax system works for the people it is meant to serve,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a press release on Wednesday. “From the shop floor to the kitchen table, taxpayers are feeling the difference of the largest tax cuts in our nation’s history, and millions of Americans are keeping more of what they earn and seeing their paychecks go further than ever before.” 

Over 25 million filers have claimed No Tax on Overtime, with an average deduction of over $3,100, the department’s data noted, while more than 30 million seniors have claimed the Enhanced Deduction for Seniors, with an average deduction of over $7,500.

The data also showed that more than 105 million filers have claimed the permanently doubled standard deduction — the specific dollar amount that reduces the amount of income on which people are taxed.

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(WASHINGTON) — Olivia Troye, a former aide to Vice President Mike Pence who was among the highest-profile Trump administration officials to become a vocal critic of the president during his first term, is launching a bid for Congress as a Democrat in Virginia.

Troye served as Pence’s homeland security adviser but spoke out against President Donald Trump over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic, and has since become a fierce critic of Trump. She also spoke at the 2024 Democratic National Convention as one of the Republicans supporting then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ presidential bid.

“They sent MAGA after me. Tried to bankrupt me. Threatened to kill me. They thought they could silence me. They obviously don’t know me very well,” Troye said in a video released by her campaign.

“In 2024, nothing could keep me from telling the truth on the stage of the Democratic National Convention. Because I believe in fighting for what’s right — for those who can’t fight for themselves. That’s why I’m a Democrat and that’s why I’m running for Congress.” 

A press release from her campaign says that Troye is set to run in the “new proposed seventh district” in Virginia. That refers to the district lines in a new congressional map proposed by Democrats; voters are deciding in an April 21 statewide ballot measure vote in Virginia if the Democratic-controlled legislature should be allowed to implement it. 

The current 7th district is represented by Democratic Rep. Eugene Vindman, although under the proposed map Vindman would be in the new 1st district. Troye’s campaign says she is working on helping the measure pass, but would not mount a primary challenge to Vindman if it does not. 

Multiple other notable candidates such as former Virginia First Lady Dorothy McAuliffe, former federal prosecutor JP Cooney, and state Delegate Dan Helmer are also running for the proposed 7th district.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Monday that a U.S. naval blockade in the Strait of Hormuz has begun, a new development in the now seven-week war after peace talks failed over the weekend.

Taking questions from reporters outside the Oval Office, Trump was asked what he hoped to achieve from the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports: Is it to force Iran back to the negotiating table or to reopen the critical waterway and bring down oil prices?

“Maybe everything,” Trump responded. “Both of those things, certainly, and more.”

“We can’t let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that’s what they’re doing,” he continued. “They’re really blackmailing the world. We’re not going to let that happen.”

Earlier Monday, Trump threatened any Iranian ships that come close to the new U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, writing they will be “ELIMINATED.”

Trump said while Iran’s navy has been “obliterated” by U.S. attacks, any smaller ships that near the U.S. barricade will be wiped out “using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea.”

“It is quick and brutal,” Trump wrote in a post on his social media platform.

Iran has warned of consequences if the security of Iranian ports is threatened, with a spokesman for the country’s joint military command saying “no port in the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman will be safe.”

There are many outstanding questions about how the U.S. blockade will work and what impact it will have on the conflict.

Trump first said the U.S. would block “any and all Ships” trying to enter or leave the strait, through which roughly 20% of the world’s oil and gas supplies typically passes.

U.S. Central Command, however, said the blockade will be enforced against any ships entering Iranian ports or coastal areas but clarified its forces “will not impede freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.”

Abroad, some U.S. allies have said they won’t back Trump’s Hormuz blockade.

“We’re not supporting the blockade,” British Prime Minister Keir Starmer told BBC radio in an interview Monday morning.

French President Emmanuel Macron said France and the U.K. will instead organize a “peaceful multinational mission” aimed at restoring freedom of navigation in the strait.

Trump on Monday was asked if he expected other countries to assist in the U.S. naval blockade.

“We don’t need other countries, frankly. But they’ve offered their services,” Trump said, though when asked Trump did not list any specific countries. “We’ll let it be known, probably tomorrow.”

At home, Trump faces potential political backlash over rising gas prices. Americans are now paying on average more than $4 for a gallon of gas, according to data from AAA.

Trump, in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, conceded that energy prices may not fall by the November midterm elections, and that they could even be “maybe a little bit higher.”

The U.S. naval blockade of the Strait of Hormuz comes after peace talks between the U.S. and Tehran in Islamabad on Saturday ended with no resolution. Vice President JD Vance, who led the U.S. delegation, said the U.S. needed a firm commitment from Iran that it would not seek a nuclear weapon.

Trump on Monday echoed that the sticking point was the enrichment question.

“Iran will not have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said. “And we agreed to a lot of things, but they didn’t agree to that. And I think they will agree to it. I’m almost sure of it. In fact, I am sure of it. If they don’t agree, there’s no deal. There’ll never be a deal. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon.”

Trump on Monday said the “right people” in Iran still want to reach an agreement.

“We’ve been called this morning by the right people, the appropriate people, and they want to work a deal,” Trump said.

ABC News’ Zoe Magee and Nicholas Kerr contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — An AI-generated photo that President Donald Trump posted Monday on his social media platform that depicted him as a Jesus-like figure and drew criticism from some of the president’s religious backers was removed roughly 13 hours after it was posted.

At an unscheduled news conference at the White House Monday afternoon, Trump acknowledged he posted the image, but said he thought it was an image of him as a “doctor.”

“Well, it wasn’t a picture, it was me,” the president said. “I did post it, and I thought it was me as the doctor and it had to do with Red Cross as a Red Cross worker there, which we support.”

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

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