Raw Story

Vice President JD Vance had no idea President Donald Trump had escalated the war in Iran until reporters tipped him off during a press conference in Hungary on Tuesday, according to reports.

A Washington Post reporter recommended Vance check his phone as he was on a stage with Trump ally Hungarian President Viktor Orbán, just after Trump had sent a serious threat warning on his Truth Social platform and said "a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again," if Iran does not make a deal by his 8 p.m. ET deadline, The Daily Beast reported.

The Post reporter asked Vance if he had any new information that signaled a potential deal could be likely.

"I don’t—unless I have a text message from Steve Witkoff," Vance said in response, mentioning Trump's Middle East envoy.

He reached into his pocket and grabbed his phone, then realized the situation had changed.

"I do have a message from Steve Witkoff," Vance said awkwardly after receiving the message.

But the moment became noticeably more awkward, The Beast reported. A Reuters reporter followed up and said he might want to really check his phone.

"I do think you have to read that text because we have reporting that the United States is striking some targets in Kharg Island," the Reuters reporter said. "You did say that the military objectives of this war have been achieved. So could you help us understand why the president is still threatening to attack every bridge and every power plant in Iran?"

Vance, who served in the Marines and was briefly deployed in Iraq, has previously said he was against long-term wars in the Middle East and has had to balance his previous public statements with his current role in the Trump administration.

He tried to respond to the question.

"So you asked about Kharg Island," Vance said. "You know, my understanding, you know, having talked to Pete (Hegseth) and General Caine about this, is that we were going to strike some military targets on Kharg Island, and I believe we have done so."

"(The president)... has said very clearly, that we’re not going to strike energy and infrastructure targets until the Iranians either make a proposal that we can get behind or don’t make a proposal. But he’s given them until Tuesday, at 8 o’clock, so I don’t think the news on Kharg Island represents a change in strategy."

Sitting at a picnic table surrounded by ten young children, President Donald Trump aired his grievances with former President Joe Biden and the “fake news” media while participating in a White House Easter event Monday.

Trump briefly spoke at the event – known as the White House Easter Egg Roll – before joining a table of children, all of whom appeared to be coloring and drawing pictures. Trump offered to “sign autographs” for the children, telling them that they could “sell them for $25,000 on Ebay.”

His mention of autographs saw him segue into criticizing Biden, who he’s accused of improperly using an autopen, an allegation that saw him demand a criminal probe into the former president. Trump’s Justice Department has since “quietly” shelved its investigation into Biden’s alleged improper use of an autopen.

"You know, Biden would use the autopen!” Trump told the children. “He was incapable of signing his name, so they'd follow him around with this big machine – you know what it was called? An autopen! And he'd have the autopen sign for him. He'd take the paper, hand it to his guys, they'd sign it with an autopen! Not too good, right?”

Trump then transitioned into attacking the media, asking the group of children their opinion on the press.

“Who likes the fake news? Does anybody like the fake news?” Trump asked.

“No!” exclaimed one child.

Donald Trump may have partly written the most recent White House East Wing court filing with his legal team, an analyst has claimed.

Trump has faced a series of legal challenges against his White House renovations, particularly a $400 million ballroom project and the refurbishing of the Eisenhower Building's exterior. A legal team working for Trump asked an appeals court yesterday (April 3) for an emergency ruling, which, if granted, would allow construction on the East Wing to continue.

The documents making the argument to the appeals court appear to have been partly written by the president himself, according to CBS News' Arden Farhi.

He wrote, "The opening pages of the court filing are loaded with exclamation points ('Time is of the essence!'), parenthetical asides, misplaced capital letters ('Almost 400 Million Dollars of private donations'), and multiple adjectives for emphasis ('shocking, unprecedented, and improper injunction') – all rhetorical flourishes of the president's online posts.

"One sentence runs 130 words and covers more than half a page. 'Private donors and American Patriots singlehandedly funded the 300 to 400 Million Dollar project (depending on finishes), which is on budget and ahead of schedule.

"'No taxpayer dollars are being used for the funding of this beautiful, desperately needed, and completely secure (for national security purposes) ballroom,' the filing reads."

It has not been confirmed whether Trump wrote any part of the recent legal filing. The administration has put in new fiscal requests for this year, which include hundreds of millions of dollars for the project.

The administration’s fiscal 2026 proposal includes more than $377 million “for repairs and renovations to the executive residence,” with another $174 million projected for 2027, according to budget documents reported by Politico.

An Office of Management and Budget spokesperson told Politico that the totals include not only work on the residence itself, but also security-related costs, adding the funding is for “a number of renovations, not just the executive residence.” The budget does not specify which projects the money would fund, Politico noted Friday.

President Donald Trump weighed in Saturday on a major error published by The New York Times on Friday, offering advice to the newsroom in a spiteful rant on social media.

In its Friday print edition, the Times ran a headline that mistakenly referred to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, as the “North American Treaty Organization.” The outlet admitted the mistake shortly after the error’s publication.

Nevertheless, Trump decided to issue the outlet some advice on Saturday in a post on his social media platform, Truth Social.

“The Failing New York Times, whose lack of credibility, and their constant Fake News attacks on your favorite President, ME, has caused its circulation to absolutely PLUMMET, referred to our severely weakened and extremely unreliable ‘partner,’ NATO, as the North American Treaty Organization,” Trump wrote.

“The correct name is the North Atlantic Treaty Organization - A very interesting mistake! The hiring and educational standards have gone way down at the NYT. Bring back, “ALL THE NEWS THAT’S FIT TO PRINT” and, Make America Great Again!”

President Donald Trump's executive order demanding states put new procedures in place for mail-in voting and turn over information about who is voting by mail is almost certain to be struck down in court, Jim Saksa wrote for Democracy Docket on Friday — but that's not the only way it could derail Trump's ambitions.

That's because this order could also undermine one of the main arguments Trump's Justice Department has used in court to defend the lawsuits filed against dozens of states to seize their voting rolls.

"In those lawsuits, the DOJ has claimed it needs millions of voters’ private sensitive data in order to ensure the states are complying with federal laws that require states to take steps to ensure accurate rolls," said the report. "But outside of court, DOJ officials like Assistant Attorney General Harmeet Dhillon have undermined that claim by boasting that the state voter records they’ve already obtained have been used to verify citizenship status using the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements (SAVE) program."

After judges began ruling against the lawsuits on these grounds, DOJ officials backpedaled somewhat and said there was no plan to help the Department of Homeland Security build a national database of voters.

Trump, however, may have blown that excuse by outright acknowledging in his executive order that he "directs DHS to create a nationwide voter registration database," noted the report.

"Along with Dhillon’s statements and Trump’s orders, the DOJ’s courtroom attestations have been impeached repeatedly," wrote Saksa. For example, "last week, CBS reported that DOJ and DHS were working to formalize a data-sharing agreement for the voter rolls. And on the same day Tucker was assuring a federal judge that the DOJ wouldn’t share state records with DHS, Eric Neff, acting chief of the DOJ’s Voting Rights Section, admitted to another judge in Rhode Island that they, in fact, would."

Trump's lawsuits for state voting data are not just limited to Democratic-controlled states, but even some Republican-controlled states where GOP election officials have concluded sharing the data would be illegal. Some of these lawsuits have run into legal blunders, including the revelation that there was no proof the suit against Washington State was properly served.

President Donald Trump has reportedly already fired Attorney General Pam Bondi.

According to Fox News correspondent Katelyn Caralle, the president met with Bondi on Wednesday night to inform her that her time was up. The meeting was said to have taken place ahead of his speech to the nation on the war in Iran.

"One of those sources said that by the time Trump took his place behind the podium for the address, Bondi had already lost her job and was on her way back to Florida," the report claimed.

Trump was reportedly considering EPA chief Lee Zeldin for Bondi's job, according to various reports.