President Donald Trump said in an interview published Friday that “Crimea will stay with Russia,” the latest example of the U.S. leader pressuring Ukraine to make concessions to end the war while it remains under siege.
Trump made the comments in a Time magazine interview conducted Tuesday. He's been accusing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of prolonging the war by resisting negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Here's the latest:
Trump says he’s ‘being inundated’ with requests to seek a third term
And he insists “there are some loopholes” to the constitutional bar preventing presidents from seeking a third term.
During an interview with Time magazine, Trump was asked about saying he was “not joking” about seeking a third term previously. He responded, “There are some loopholes.”
But, Trump added, “I don’t believe in using loopholes.”
The 22nd Amendment states, “No person shall be elected to the office of the President more than twice.”
A possible way around that would be for Vice President JD Vance to be elected president in 2028, then step aside in favor of Trump.
Trump said he didn’t “know anything about” that possibility, but also noted, “I am being inundated with requests.”
Wall Street’s rally fades as more CEOs talk about uncertainty ahead because of Trump’s trade war
Wall Street’s three-day rally is running out of momentum Friday and U.S. stocks are drifting in mixed trading as they near the end of another roller-coaster week.
The S&P 500 was 0.2% higher in early trading, though the majority of stocks within it were falling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 10 points, or less than 0.1% , as of 9:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.3% higher.
Intel weighed on the market after the chip company said it’s seeing “elevated uncertainty across the industry” and gave a forecast for upcoming revenue and profit that fell short of analysts’ expectations. Its stock fell 7.6% even though its results for the beginning of the year topped expectations.
▶ Read more about the financial markets
Trump calls Pope Francis ‘a fantastic kind of guy’ while leaving for his funeral
The president and first lady Melania Trump are heading to Rome for the funeral.
Speaking to reporters before boarding a helicopter to Air Force One, the president said, “We’re going to Rome to pay our respects and we’ll be leaving that same day.”
He repeated his predictions that he’ll be meeting with foreign leaders on the sidelines of the funeral. But exactly what that might entail is unclear. Trump even suggested that a meeting with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was possible. He added of the possibility of several meetings: “It’s going to be very interesting.”
Trump said he met Francis twice and that the pope “loved the world, actually, and he was just a good man.”
“I thought he was a fantastic kind of a guy,” Trump said.
A call with Chinese President Xi Jinping?
Trump raised eyebrows in an interview with Time magazine when he claimed to have received a call from Xi.
If true, it would be a notable development in the tariff standoff between the world’s two largest economies.
But it’s unclear when or if such a call took place, and Trump provided no clarity when speaking to reporters while leaving the White House for his trip to Rome to attend Pope Francis’ funeral.
“I don’t want to comment on that,” Trump said. “I’ve spoken to him many times.”
The Chinese Foreign Ministry has previously denied negotiations have been taking place. The National Security Council did not immediately return a request for comment.
Trump and Zelenskyy among dignitaries converging on Rome for the funeral of Pope Francis
Heads of state and royalty will start converging on Rome on Friday for the funeral of Pope Francis in the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Square, but the group of poor people who will meet his casket in a small crosstown basilica are more in keeping with Francis’ humble persona and disdain for pomp.
Trump and Argentine President Javier Milei are among the leaders arriving Friday, the last day the Argentine pope will lie in state in St. Peter’s Basilica before his coffin is sealed in the evening in preparation for his funeral Saturday.
The Vatican says 130 delegations are confirmed, including 50 heads of state and 10 reigning sovereigns.
▶ Read more about the dignitaries attending the funeral of Pope Francis
Negotiations between Iran and the US over Tehran’s nuclear program return Saturday to Oman
There, experts on both sides will start hammering the technical details of any possible deal.
The talks seek to limit Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of some of the crushing economic sanctions the U.S. has imposed on the Islamic Republic closing in on half a century of enmity.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to unleash airstrikes targeting Iran’s program if a deal isn’t reached. Iranian officials increasingly warn they could pursue a nuclear weapon with their stockpile of uranium enriched to near weapons-grade levels.
▶ Read more about the nuclear talks between the U.S. and Iran
Hegseth had an unsecured internet line set up in his office to connect to Signal, AP sources say
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had an internet connection that bypassed the Pentagon’s security protocols set up in his office to use the Signal messaging app on a personal computer, two people familiar with the line told The Associated Press.
The existence of the unsecured internet connection is the latest revelation about Hegseth’s use of the unclassified app and raises the possibility that sensitive defense information could have been put at risk of potential hacking or surveillance.
Known as a “dirty” internet line by the IT industry, it connects directly to the public internet where the user’s information and the websites accessed do not have the same security filters or protocols that the Pentagon’s secured connections maintain.
Other Pentagon offices have used them, particularly if there’s a need to monitor information or websites that would otherwise be blocked.
— Tara Copp
Trump orders Justice Department to investigate Democrats’ top fundraising platform
In an executive order signed Thursday, Trump directed Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate allegations that Republicans have raised that ActBlue allows illegal campaign donations.
Democrats, who had anticipated they would be targeted, condemned the move Thursday and ActBlue called it an “oppressive use of power” by the White House.
“The Trump Administration’s and GOP’s targeting of ActBlue is part of their brazen attack on democracy in America. Today’s escalation by the White House is blatantly unlawful and needs to be seen for what it is: Donald Trump’s latest front in his campaign to stamp out all political, electoral and ideological opposition,” ActBlue said in a statement.
ActBlue said it would pursue “all legal avenues to protect and defend itself.”
Trump’s order directs Bondi, in consultation with the Treasury Department, to investigate allegations that online fundraising platforms, and specifically ActBlue, have been used by some to “make ‘straw’ or ‘dummy’ contributions or foreign contributions to political candidates and committees.”
▶ Read more about Trump’s executive order on ActBlue
Trump says Russia should keep Crimea
The president sat down with Time magazine for an interview marking 100 days in office, a milestone that he crosses next week.
During the conversation, which was published on Friday, Trump said “Crimea will stay with Russia.” The strategic peninsula was seized by Russia in 2014, years before the full-scale invasion in 2022.
“Everybody understands that it’s been with them for a long time,” the president said. “It’s been with them long before Trump came along.”
“They’ve had their submarines there for long before any period that we’re talking about, for many years. The people speak largely Russian in Crimea,” Trump said. “But this was given by Obama. This wasn’t given by Trump.”
How the public’s shift on immigration paved the way for Trump’s crackdown
Since returning to the White House, Trump has launched an unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement that has pushed the limits of executive power and clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him. But unlike in his first term, Trump’s efforts have not sparked the kind of widespread condemnation or protests that led him to retreat from some unpopular positions.
Instead, immigration has emerged as one of Trump’s strongest issues in public polling, reflecting both his grip on the Republican base and a broader shift in public sentiment that is driven in part, interviews suggest, by anger at the policies of his predecessor, Democrat Joe Biden.
The White House has seized on this shift, mocking critics and egging on Democrats to engage on an issue that Trump’s team sees as a win.
▶ Read more about Trump’s crackdown on immigration
Immigration is Trump’s strongest issue, but many say he’s gone too far, a new AP-NORC poll finds
Trump’s handling of immigration remains a point of strength as he takes wide-ranging actions to ramp up deportations and target people in the U.S. illegally, according to a new poll.
The survey from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research finds that 46% of U.S. adults approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, which is nearly 10 percentage points higher than his approval rating on the economy and trade with other countries.
While Trump’s actions remain divisive, there’s less of a consensus that the Republican president has overstepped on immigration than on other issues. Still, there’s little appetite for an even tougher approach. About half of Americans say he’s “gone too far” when it comes to deporting immigrants in the U.S. illegally. They’re divided on the deportation of Venezuelan immigrants who are accused of being gang members to El Salvador, and more oppose than support revoking foreign students’ visas over their participation in pro-Palestinian activism.
▶ Read more about what the poll shows
