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US president says he will host Chinese leader in a reciprocal visit later this yearMiddle East crisis – live updatesDonald Trump will meet Xi Jinping in May during the US president’s first visit to China in eight years, a closely watched trip that had been postponed due to the Iran war.Trump was initially slated to travel next week, but will now visit Beijing on 14 and 15 May, he wrote in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday. Trump said he would host the Chinese leader in a reciprocal visit in Washington later this year. Continue reading...

Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) indicated that she was the latest Republican member of Congress to lose patience with the Trump administration's shifting excuses for the war in Iran.Mace made her feelings known on Wednesday following a Pentagon briefing for lawmakers."The justifications presented to the American public for the war in Iran were not the same military objectives we were briefed on today in the House Armed Services Committee," Mace wrote on X. "This gap is deeply troubling. The longer this war continues, the faster it will lose the support of Congress and the American people."Mace's followers were mixed on her remarks."We don't care. The current Iranian regime must be destroyed no matter what," Traci Thompson wrote. "Looks like @RepNancyMace is regretting voting to continue the war in Iran. {H.Con.Res. 38}," another commenter pointed out."Shut up. America is in a fight. Are you going to make matters worse? You mouth off on everything, but are a paper tiger. You do nothing. It is all virtue signaling and publicity for your selfish political aspirations," one detractor noted."It's long ago lost the people. You corrupt Zionist owned politicians are the problem," a commenter called Truthseeker complained.

Joy Behar stopped guest host Abby Huntsman in her tracks on Wednesday during a fiery moment on "The View."The former Fox News host suggested that President Donald Trump had done a good thing by initiating military strikes against Iran and escalating the war in the Middle East, The Daily Beast reported. After a series of comments, Behar started to push back on Huntsman's claims. "I think any time we can deter Iran, whether it’s for another year, whether it’s for 10 years," Huntsman said, saying Trump's move was to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. "I think that’s a win for this country."“I don’t want to take away from what our men and women have been doing over there because what they’ve accomplished is incredible,” Huntsman said. Behar asked Huntsman to identify what has been accomplished."Obama had a deal in place. Obama had a deal," Behar said, adding that Trump "threw it up."The question left Huntsman stunned and silent during the broadcast."And what's the gift? Besides herpes?" Behar asked.Abby Huntsman: "We don't know what the intelligence he got was, that's the problem....."Joy Behar: "The word intelligence and him in the same sentence do not go together." Huntsman: "What about wiping out their entire leadership?" #TheView pic.twitter.com/OmoBVhaTDM— Neo Jane (@Neo_Jane8) March 25, 2026

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was irritated on Wednesday after a reporter mentioned Joe Kent — the top Trump intelligence official who resigned after claiming President Donald Trump changed his story on the Iran war.Leavitt was responding to a reporter's question during a White House press briefing and had a sharp reaction to the comments from Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center and close MAGA ally who stepped down last week from his role. Kent has said that Iran "posed no imminent threat to our nation" and that the president acted under "pressure from Israel.""Joe Kent said that the president's red line shifted from 'Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon' to 'Iran cannot pursue nuclear enrichment.' What is the administration's response to that criticism?" the reporter asked. Leavitt had a strong response to Kent's comments. "I think the president and I have both strongly responded to the criticism by Mr. Kent, who unfortunately resigned in disgrace and accused the president of basically being controlled by foreign countries and foreign manipulation, which is a ridiculous and laughable assertion," Leavitt said. "So his accusations have zero credibility as far as this White House is concerned." The reporter pressed further, "the question of the red line shifting from no nuclear weapon to no nuclear enrichment, is there any substance to that argument?"Leavitt pushed back on the question. "I think the president has been quite clear on what he wants to see from the Iranian regime, which is why he chose to launch Operation Epic Fury in the first place," Leavitt said.Q: Joe Kent said the president's red line shifted from 'Iran cannot obtain a nuclear weapon' to 'Iran cannot pursue nuclear enrichment.' What is the president's response?LEAVITT: Mr Kent resigned in disgrace. He has 0 credibilityQ: But the question of the red line shifting?… pic.twitter.com/3mdhr5pKJB— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 25, 2026

President Donald Trump on Tuesday said that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was angry about settling the Iran war. Trump was taking press questions after swearing in new Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin in the Oval Office when he gave a frank response about the status of the ongoing military conflict in the Middle East, which has now reached its fourth week and left 13 troops dead and 232 service members wounded.This was the second time in two days that Trump had punted the blame to Hegseth over the war. On Monday, during a visit to Tennessee, Trump claimed that Hegseth urged him to pursue joint military strikes with Israel on Iran. "I don’t want to say this, but I have to. I said to Pete and General Caine, I think this thing [the war] is going to be settled very soon. They said, 'Oh, that’s too bad.' Pete didn’t want it to be settled," Trump said. Political commentator Brian Krassenstein shared the video on X, saying, "In other words our Sec. of War doesn't want peace, he wants war." Several other people commented on social media after the president's remarks. "Caine getting tossed under the bus for good measure now too. Dude is just out here blaming everyone lmao," commentator Bill DeMayo wrote on X."Trump trying to spread blame like butter on toast," progressive commentator Bill Johnson wrote on X. BREAKING: Trump just said that Pete Hegseth was angry that there may be a settlement in the Iran war. He said that Hegseth doesn’t want it to be settled. "I don’t want to say this but I have to… Pete didn’t want it to be settled."In other words our Sec. of War doesn't… pic.twitter.com/LcbAagDFHw— Brian Krassenstein (@krassenstein) March 24, 2026

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified Tuesday in a federal criminal case involving his once-roommate and friend, former Rep. David Rivera, saying during cross-examination that he did not know about Rivera's alleged crimes, CBS News reported. Rivera has been accused of secretly lobbying for the Venezuelan government. Rubio and Rivera had a close relationship in the past. Both are Cuban American immigrants from Miami, and Rivera was with Rubio when he picked out his wife's engagement ring. Rivera stood by Rubio's side as he pushed his political career forward while they both pursued their political ambitions in the Florida House of Representatives. "Rubio described a 2017 meeting with Rivera where he said 'insiders in the regime in Venezuela' had convinced former Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step aside, and Rubio said he had no knowledge that Rivera had allegedly been contracted out by a subsidiary of a Venezuelan state oil company to arrange the meeting," according to CBS News.Rubio described his response to the claims that Maduro was planning to step down. "I was skeptical that it was true," Rubio said. "Because we've had so many other people" attempt to do the same thing with "double dealers who were constantly making these claims."Federal prosecutors allege that Rivera and his codefendant Esther Nuhfer sought to influence the first Trump administration to lower political tensions and tone down sanctions on behalf of Maduro and then-Foreign Minister and now interim Venezuelan president Delcy Rodriguez. Rivera and Nuhfer were indicted in 2022 by a grand jury in the Southern District of Florida for failing to register as a foreign agent and money laundering. "Prosecutors allege that the pair were hired in a $50 million contract in exchange for three months of lobbying work in 2017 on behalf of a U.S.-based subsidiary of a Venezuela state oil company, PDVSA, which operates under the name CITGO," CBS News reported.The indictment revealed that both Rivera and Nuhfer were accused of trying to lobby Rubio, who was at the time a Miami Republican senator, and Kellyanne Conway, former White House advisor, on behalf of the Venezuelan government's high ranking leaders. "The attempts to meet Conway were unsuccessful, prosecutors said, but added that the pair did arrange two meetings with Rubio, who is a longtime friend of Rivera's and had been an outspoken critic of the Maduro regime," according to CBS News.This was the first time in more than 40 years that a current Cabinet member was called as a witness in a federal trial, according to The Washington Post.Rubio was asked what he knew about the alleged $50 million contract between Rivera, Nuhfera and a Venezuela oil subsidiary. "I have no such knowledge other than what is in the press and what is in the indictment," Rubio said.

President Donald Trump claimed to have received a "very big present" from the leaders of Iran.During a Tuesday press conference at the White House, Trump was asked who his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and special envoy Steve Witkoff were negotiating with to end the war with Iran."We killed all their leadership, and then they met to choose new leaders, and we killed all of them," Trump noted. "And now we have a new group, and we can easily do that, but let's see how they turn out."The president claimed that he had accomplished "regime change" in Iran."This is regime change, right?" he said. "They're going to make a deal. They did something yesterday that was amazing, actually. They gave us a present. And the present arrived today. It was a very big present, worth a tremendous amount of money.""And I'm not going to tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize," he added. "And they gave it to us, and they said they were going to give it. So that meant one thing to me. We're dealing with the right people."Trump said the "present" was not related to Iran's nuclear capabilities."It was oil and gas related," he explained. "And it was a very nice thing they did. But what it showed me is that we're dealing with the right people. Because, you know, you don't know, because the leadership was killed. All gone.""But we're dealing with a group of people that I think turned out. And the present — the gift they made to us was very significant. And they said they were going to do it, and it happened. And they're the only ones that could have done it."

Marco Rubio welcomes release of Dennis Coyle, who was detained in January last year for violating unspecified lawsAfghanistan’s Taliban authorities have released the American academic Dennis Coyle after holding him for over a year, with the foreign ministry saying the release came on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, the Muslim holiday that marks the end of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.A statement from the ministry said the academic researcher had been released in Kabul on Tuesday, following an appeal from his family and after Afghanistan’s supreme court “considered his previous imprisonment sufficient”. Continue reading...