In a short while, Donald Trump will hold a meeting with Mark Rutte, the Nato secretary general.
Rutte has arrived at the White House, but as of now sit-down is still closed to the press.
Earlier, Karoline Leavitt told reporter that withdrawing from Nato is something the president “has discussed” and will likely discuss further with the secretary general. This comes after Trump has routinely criticized the alliance for the reluctance of member countries to offer support for the US military campaign in Iran.
During her press briefing today, the press secretary confirmed that the ceasefire deal with Iran does not include Lebanon, where Israel continues to launch strikes, and that has “been relayed to all parties”.
In a concurrent address, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, echoed the news from Washington, as his country continues its attacks against Hezbollah. According to Lebanon’s civil defence, Israeli attacks have killed at least 254 people across the country today.
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Leavitt also noted that Trump is dispatching his negotiating team, led by JD Vance, and special envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to Islamabad for talks this weekend.
“The first round of those talks will take place on Saturday morning local time, and we know we look forward to those in-person meetings,” she said.
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White House defends Trump's comments threatening to wipe out a 'whole civilization'
During today’s press briefing, Karoline Leavitt defended the president’s comments on Truth Social that a “whole civilization” would die if a deal with Iran was not reached.
“[Trump’s] very tough rhetoric and his tough negotiating style is what has led to the result that you are all witnessing today,” Leavitt said. “It was the Iranians who backed down, not President Trump.”
The press secretary went on to say that Trump “absolutely has the moral high ground over the Iranian terrorist regime”.
Leavitt responded to lines from Iranian state media that the regime has closed the strait of Hormuz.
She noted that Trump was made aware of those reports, and that any disruption to the waterway is “completely unacceptable”.
Leavitt said there is a disconnect between what Tehran is saying publicly, versus what is happening privately. “We have seen an uptick of traffic in the strait today,” she said. However, the Guardian reported earlier that the ceasefire is unlikely to lead to a swift exit for the hundreds of oil and gas tankers trapped in the Gulf, according to shipping experts.
Leavitt evaded a reporter’s question about who exactly controls the strait of Hormuz.
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Leavitt offers muddled explanation over 10-point plan as basis for ceasefire agreement
The press secretary chided the press for allegedly “misreporting” that Donald Trump is working from the original 10-point plan put forward by Tehran.
“It was literally thrown in the garbage by President Trump and his negotiating team,” she said, despite the fact that Trump said on Truth Social that the US received a 10-point proposal from Iran that is believed to be a “workable basis on which to negotiate”.
Leavitt claimed that Iran actually put forward a “more reasonable and entirely different and condensed plan to the president”.
She noted that Trump’s red lines, namely the end of uranium enrichment in Iran, “have not changed”.
“The idea that President Trump would ever accept an Iranian wishlist,” she says, “is completely absurd.”
After Trump announced the ceasefire, Iranian state media published a proposal that included continued Iranian control over the strategic strait of Hormuz, an end to international sanctions on the country and “acceptance” of uranium enrichment.
However, on Wednesday, the president implied that the ceasefire was based on an entirely different proposal from the US, claiming that “there is only one group of meaningful ‘POINTS’ that are acceptable to the United States, and we will be discussing them behind closed doors during these Negotiations,” in a post on Truth Social.
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Notably, Leavitt characterized the president’s threats to eradicate a “whole civilization” as “maximum pressure”.
“Iran can no longer tolerate being bombed or taking the gamble of what was to come following President Trump’s 8pm deadline last night,” she added.
In her opening remarks, Leavitt called the two-week ceasefire a “victory” for the US that Donald Trump and the military made happen.
She’s listing the accomplishments of Operation Epic Fury, noting that Iran’s ability to build and stockpile ballistic missiles and long-range drones has been “set back by years”.
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We’re about to hear from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, and we’ll bring you the latest lines as the media briefing starts.
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Even though Trump has declared victory, after agreeing to a two-week ceasefire in the war on Iran, more Democrats are calling for his ouster via the 25th amendment. This is the constitutional provision which requires a majority of the president’s cabinet to remove him from office.
“I’m relieved Trump did not destroy an entire civilization last night, but his unhinged threat and illegal war make it clear he is unfit to serve as president,” said Pramila Jayapal, a Democratic representative from Washington state.
The congresswoman also said that Congress must reject the latest $1.5tn Pentagon budget request from Trump that he unveiled last week, and will be at the forefront of appropriation bill negotiations throughout the year.
Schumer says that Senate Democrats will force vote on war powers resolution
In a press conference in New York today, Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said Democrats in the upper chamber would force a vote on a war powers resolution to limit the administration’s military campaign in Iran when Congress returns from recess next week.
Earlier, the Senate’s top Democrat called Donald Trump a “military moron” on social media.
Schumer noted that, despite the two-week ceasefire, the cost of the war, and the effect on gas prices, has made the US “worse off today than we were when [Trump] started it”.
“If he restarts this war we will be in even worse shape. We must pass our War Powers Resolution to end this war for good,” Schumer wrote.
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Growing calls among Democrats for 25th amendment to be invoked to remove Trump from office over Iran threats
A growing number of Democrats are calling for the 25th amendment to be invoked to remove Donald Trump from office, following the president’s genuinely shocking post yesterday morning in which he threatened to wipe out an entire civilization if Iran didn’t capitulate to his demands.
The extraordinary, violent outburst has raised questions about the president’s mental health, as well as spurring grave concerns about whether he would follow through on his threats to bomb Iran’s critical infrastructure – which would amount to war crimes under international law.
More than 70 lawmakers – mostly in the House but also a handful in the Senate – have made the demand. Some have called for his cabinet to invoke the amendment to declare him unfit for office, others have called for his impeachment and conviction – and some have called for both.
Senator Chris Murphy, of Connecticut, told CNN on Tuesday that “no president in control of his senses would publicly promise to eradicate an entire civilization”.
That’s why I agree with Republicans who have put the 25th amendment on the table. Trump seems to be taking us on a path to mass war crimes. That’s a path we cannot accept.
Ed Markey, of Massachusetts, wrote on X:
The House and Senate must return to session. The House must pass articles of impeachment, and then the Senate must vote to convict and remove the President. Or, the cabinet and Vice President, with congressional concurrence, must invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump.
“We need to invoke the 25th Amendment and remove Trump,” representative Ro Khanna, of California, wrote on Tuesday morning on X. “Threatening war crimes is a blatant violation of our constitution and the Geneva Conventions.”
Former House speaker Nancy Pelosi said on X:
Donald Trump’s instability is more clear and dangerous than ever. If the Cabinet is not willing to invoke the 25th Amendment and restore sanity, Republicans must reconvene the Congress to end this war.
Representative Pramila Jayapal also said on X after the ceasefire announcement:
I’m relieved Trump did not destroy an entire civilization last night, but his unhinged threat and illegal war make it clear he is unfit to serve as president.
Trump needs to be removed from office. And we must oppose his new $1.5 trillion budget proposal for more war.
Illinois’s governor, JB Pritzker, a potential future presidential hopeful, also called for the 25th amendment to be invoked. He said on X of Trump’s post:
This is not foreign policy, it’s a deranged mad man threatening to wipe out an entire country. It’s past time. The 25th Amendment must be invoked.
Trump’s threat outraged even those who formerly made up his core Maga base, including former representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, and rightwing commentators and conspiracy theorists Alex Jones and Candace Owens.
“25TH AMENDMENT!!!” Greene, formerly a staunch Trump ally turned critic, posted on X yesterday. “Not a single bomb has dropped on America. We cannot kill an entire civilization. This is evil and madness.”
A handful of Republican lawmakers also expressed unease with threats to strike civilian targets, but by and large the party has remained silent.
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House oversight committee to still pursue Pam Bondi testimony over justice department's handling of Epstein case
The House oversight committee has signaled it will continue to seek testimony from former attorney general Pam Bondi after she was ousted last week.
She was subpoenaed for a 14 April deposition on the justice department’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein files, but the date was never confirmed by her. A committee spokesperson said in a statement that the panel would continue to pursue scheduling a date for her testimony.
The Department of Justice has stated Pam Bondi will not appear on April 14 for a deposition since she is no longer Attorney General and was subpoenaed in her capacity as Attorney General. The Committee will contact Pam Bondi’s personal counsel to discuss next steps regarding scheduling her deposition.
Bondi was subpoenaed last month after five Republicans on the committee joined forces with Democrats to seek her testimony.
The top Democrat on the panel, Robert Garcia, said in a statement on Wednesday that Bondi was “trying to get out of her legal obligation to testify”.
Our bipartisan subpoena is to Pam Bondi, whether she is the Attorney General or not. She must come in to testify immediately, and if she defies the subpoena, we will begin contempt charges in Congress. The survivors deserve justices.
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Zeldin touts rollbacks at climate-skeptical conference: 'What we are doing is no surprise'
Under Lee Zeldin – the US environment secretary who spoke at the climate-skeptical Heartland Institute’s conference on Wednesday morning – the EPA has exempted polluting facilities from regulations, shuttered climate and environmental research offices, and shrunk its workforce. It has also rolled back dozens of environmental and climate protections.
“What we are doing in the last 14 months is no surprise,” he said. “It is what I pledged during my confirmation hearing, and it is what the American public voted for when they put Donald J Trump back in office. And thank God they did.”
Zeldin spoke about his most controversial environmental rollback: the shredding of the legal finding underpinning virtually all US climate regulations, known as the “endangerment finding”.
Scientists and other experts widely condemned the repeal, but Heartland Institute has celebrated it; references to its rollback were met with cheers at the conference in Washington DC on Wednesday. Zeldin expressed “admiration” for the Heartland Institute’s advocacy against the endangerment finding in his speech.
He also criticized previous administrations for ignoring “what’s good and necessary about carbon dioxide for the life of the planet”.
There is scientific consensus that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases are warming the planet, resulting in dangerous increases in temperatures and in the intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. Scientists have long warned that the world must quickly phase out fossil fuels in order to preserve a livable climate.
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Donald Trump said that, moving forward, there might a “joint venture” between the US and Iran when it comes to charging tolls for all ships passing through the strait of Hormuz, in an interview with ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl earlier today.
“We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It’s a way of securing it – also securing it from lots of other people,” he told Karl. “It’s a beautiful thing.”
Earlier this week, Trump told reporters at the White House that he was unhappy with the idea of Iran charging tolls for passage of cargo ships and oil tankers through the waterway. He also said there is a “concept” where the US would charge tolls moving forward. “Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner,” he said on Monday.
A reminder that Iran is ultimately still in control of traffic through the strait. The foreign minister said on Tuesday that safe passage will be allowed for the next two weeks under Iranian military management.
Donald Trump said in-person talks with Iran will happen “very soon”, the New York Post reported today.
In an interview with the Post, Trump said his vice-president, JD Vance, might not attend the talks due to security concerns.
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Top House Democrat pushes Congress to take up war powers resolution immediately
Hakeem Jeffries, the House minority leader, said that the lower chamber should vote immediately on a war powers resolution to curb the Trump administration’s war on Iran.
“We need a permanent end to Donald Trump’s reckless war of choice,” Jeffries told CNN shortly after Donald Trump announced the two-week ceasefire with Iran on Tuesday. “House Democrats have demanded that Speaker Mike Johnson immediately reconvene the House back into session so we can move a war powers resolution that will end this conflict permanently.”
A reminder that Democratic lawmakers led calls for Trump’s ouster after he threatened to wipe out an “entire civilization” if Iran did not reach a deal to reopen the strait of Hormuz. While Jeffries told CNN that the pause is “insufficient”, it’s not clear how this deal will ultimately affect Congress’s wider perception of Trump’s handling of the war. Republicans, including Johnson and the Senate majority leader, John Thune, were largely silent in the wake of Trump’s astonishing posts on social media in recent days.
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The Heartland Institute has accepted money from big oil companies including Shell and ExxonMobil, and from the Mercers, a family of Republican mega-donors. It was a contributor to Project 2025, the far-right policy blueprint for Trump’s second administration.
Craig Rucker, the president of CFACT – a rightwing group which complains about “climate exaggeration,” introduced Zeldin at the conference as a “friend of sound science [and] climate realism, a real rockstar.”
“What happened for years and decades in this country is that the elite, the ruling class, the people who would run the agencies, the people who have decided that they are in charge of the science, the politicians, the biggest grifters: there would be a cabal that would decide exactly which model is the chosen model, which methodology is the higher methodology,” Zeldin added in his remarks today. “And if all of you in this room, if any of you in this room dare to challenge any of that, well shame on you.”
Lee Zeldin, the administrator of the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), gave the keynote speech at a conference hosted by a prominent climate-denying thinktank on Wednesday morning.
“No longer are we going to rely on bad, flawed assumptions instead of accurate, present-day fact without apology or regret,” he said at the Heartland Institute’s conference on climate change in Washington DC, referring to well-established climate science.
The Heartland Institute rejects the scientific consensus that the climate crisis is real, human-caused and urgent. Since the early 2000s, it has been a leading promoter of climate doubt, even branding climate science as “fake news“ and comparing people who believe in global heating to the Unabomber.
In his speech, Zeldin poked fun at the media for calling him “controversial” for not “following blind obedience to whatever the dire, doom and gloom position of the day is from John Kerry or Al Gore or AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez].”
He said the EPA is “heeding the call of the American public” by enacting an anti-environment agenda. And he derided previous administrations’ heeding of climate scientists’ warnings about the dangers of greenhouse gas emissions.
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Donald Trump will be in Washington today. As of now, none of his meetings, including with the agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, at 11.30am ET or with the Nato secretary general, Mark Rutte, at 3.30pm ET, are open to the press. We will keep an eye on if that changes.
However, we are due to hear from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, at 1pm ET, when she briefs reporters.
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The defense secretary was resolute about Iran forfeiting its enriched uranium, and even suggested that US would conduct an operation to seize it.
“We know what they have, and they will give it up, and we’ll get it, and we’ll take it if we have to,” Hegseth said. “We can do it in any means necessary.”
Hegseth says that US had 'legitimate targets' amid Trump's threats to eradicate a 'whole civilization'
When asked whether Donald Trump did, in fact, plan to follow through with his staggering threats that a “whole civilization will die” if Iran did not reopen the strait of Hormuz, Pete Hegseth said that had a target “set, locked and loaded” had a deal collapsed by Tuesday evening.
The defense secretary claimed that the Iranian regime had “dual use” for “infrastructure, bridges, power plants”, adding that they were used “to fund their military” and “to fund their terror campaign”.
A reminder, the administration came under wide-spread backlash on Tuesday after the president’s missive suggested that the US would violate the Geneva conventions to achieve its objective.
“We had a lot of legitimate targets. They knew exactly the scope of what we were capable of,” Hegseth said, defending Trump’s plans.
Taking questions from reporters, Hegseth said that the US will be “hanging around” to make sure “Iran complies with this ceasefire”.
He noted that the military presence in the region also serves as a force to ensure Iran “comes to the table” to make a deal.
“So we’ll we’ll stay put, stay ready, stay vigilant,” Hegseth added.
The US military is prepared to resume attacks on Iran if ordered by Donald Trump, the top US general says.
“Let us be clear, a ceasefire is a pause, and the joint force remains ready, if ordered or called upon,” Dan Caine tells the press conference.
Earlier, he said the US military has struck more than 13,000 targets since the war began on 28 February.
Caine assessed that about 90% of Iran’s navy fleet has been destroyed, as well as 95% of its naval mines.
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Pete Hegseth repeated Donald Trump’s social media comments that Iran will cease uranium enrichment – a condition that Tehran has previously refused to budge on.
“Any material they should not have, will be removed right now,” Hegseth said. “The president has been clear from the beginning, there will be no Iranian nuclear weapons.”
Hegseth says new Iranian regime was 'out of options and out of time'
As the defense secretary continued to extol that the two-week ceasefire signals a decisive victory, he listed several Iranian officials who have been killed since the war began at the end of February.
“The new Iranian regime was out of options and out of time, so they cut a deal,” Hegseth said. “We control their fate, not the other way around. That’s why they came to the table. Iran’s defeat is America’s retribution for every American lost to Iranian terror.”
Hegseth: Iran ‘begged’ for this ceasefire
At his Penatagon press conference, Pete Hegseth begins by saying Iran “begged for this ceasefire” and says Operation Epic Fury “decimated” Iran’s military.
He says the country’s missile programme has been “functionally destroyed” and that Iran’s navy “is at the bottom of the sea”. Hesgeth adds that “we [the US] own their skies”.
The US carried out 800 strikes on Tuesday night, he says, destroying Iran’s defence industrial base.
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Iran must negotiate in ‘good faith’ during the two-week ceasefire, said JD Vance, calling it a ‘fragile truce’.
The US and Iran agreed to a two-week conditional ceasefire on Tuesday evening, which included a temporary reopening of the strait of Hormuz, after a last-minute diplomatic intervention led by Pakistan, cancelling an ultimatum from Donald Trump for Iran to surrender or face widespread destruction.
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Nato’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, is expected to meet with Donald Trump on Wednesday to try to smooth over the president’s anger with the military alliance over the Iran war.
Trump had suggested the US may consider leaving the transatlantic alliance after Nato member countries ignored his call to help reopen the strait of Hormuz, a vital shipping waterway, as Iran effectively shut it and sent gas prices soaring.
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Donald Trump is “impatient” about making progress toward ending the Iran war and has instructed his negotiating team to engage the Iranians in good faith, JD Vance said on Wednesday.
Speaking at an event in Budapest during his trip to Hungary, the US vice-president said a deal was possible if Iran negotiated sincerely, but cautioned that while some parts of the Iranian system were approaching the talks constructively, others were not. He described the situation as a “fragile truce”.
“The president of the United States has told me – and he’s told the entire negotiating team, secretary of state, the special envoy Steve Witkoff – he said, ‘Go and work in good faith to come to an agreement,’” Vance said.
“He’s impatient. He’s impatient to make progress. He has told us to negotiate in good faith, and I think if they negotiate in good faith, we will be able to find a deal. But that’s a big if, and ultimately, it’s up to the Iranians how they negotiate. I hope they make the right decision,” the vice-president said.
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Clay Fuller supports the war in Iran. Shawn Harris opposes it. Voters in Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former district in north-west Georgia decided that this distinction was not enough to propel a Democrat into a conservative-leaning House seat on Tuesday night.
The Associated Press called the election as results from the rural counties of north-western corner of the state rolled in.
Both men running to replace the former Trump ally turned critic, who resigned from Congress earlier this year, have considerable military credentials. Fuller is an air force reserve lieutenant colonel and military attorney. Harris is a retired brigadier general who has commanded combat troops in Afghanistan, Liberia and elsewhere, with his last active-duty assignment as a military attache in Israel.
On paper, the odds of a Harris win were slim. Georgia’s 14th congressional district voted for Trump by a two-to-one margin in 2024, which is nearly the same margin Harris lost to Greene in 2024. In line with special elections for Congress since the start of Trump’s term, the Democratic candidate overperformed.
Early results suggest Harris has improved on his 2024 margin by double digits. Harris said he will try again in November with a full congressional term on the table.
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Oil prices plunged by almost 15% and global stock markets have rallied sharply after the US and Iran agreed a two-week conditional ceasefire.
Investors hailed the news that Donald Trump had held off on his threat to bomb Iran into “the stone ages”, with Iran’s foreign minister saying passage through the strait of Hormuz would be allowed for the next two weeks under the management of its military.
Oil promptly tumbled, even though it is not certain that the US will accept the 10-point proposal drawn up by Iran. How the strait will be reopened and managed beyond the two-week grace period is yet to be determined.
Brent crude oil, the international standard, dropped 14.4% to $93.48, and futures for US crude oil sank 14.7% to $96.27 a barrel. The prices remain well above where it was before the start of the war, when Brent traded below $73 a barrel.
President Donald Trump’s ceasefire announcement has divided opinion among US lawmakers, with some hailing it as a positive step and others challenging the Republican president’s fitness to lead.
Trump’s earlier threat to wipe out Iranian civilization prompted some critics to call on his cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment, which provides for a transfer of power if a president is unable to govern, particularly in the event of illness.
Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said Trump’s ceasefire announcement “changes nothing.”
“The President has threatened a genocide against the Iranian people, and is continuing to leverage that threat,” she wrote on X.
Republican senator Lindsey Graham, a close Trump ally and foreign policy hawk, said congressional oversight is needed to “kick the tires.”
“At this early stage, I am extremely cautious regarding what is fact vs. fiction or misrepresentation,” Graham wrote on X.
“That’s why a congressional review process like the one the Senate followed to test the Obama Iranian deal is a sound way forward.”
Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer earlier called Trump “an extremely sick person” in response to the Republican president’s threat that “a whole civilization will die tonight.”
Liberal Chris Taylor wins election to Wisconsin supreme court
Hello and welcome to the US politics live blog.
Democratic-backed candidate Chris Taylor won election to the Wisconsin supreme court on Tuesday, giving liberals a 5-2 edge on the court.
She beat conservative Maria Lazar, consolidating the liberal hold on the high court ahead of the next presidential election, when the swing state is sure to see challenges to election results.
“Once again, Wisconsin showed the entire nation that we believe that the people should be at the center of government and the priority of our judiciary, not the billionaires, not the most powerful and privileged, but the people,” Taylor said in her victory speech.
Taylor’s win gives liberals a 5-2 bloc on the bench. Taylor is seen as friendly to voting rights, while Lazar’s views aligned more closely with Republicans, pushing for policies that could hinder voting access and impact. Lazar had continued to defend maps in Wisconsin that were gerrymandered to lead to more Republican victories, which have since been overturned.
Liberals are now guaranteed to hold a majority on the court until at least 2030. Wisconsin Republican party chair Brian Schimming, in the wake of Lazar’s double-digit defeat, called for Republicans to “stay united and continue fighting for our conservative values.”
The race is another gauge of Democrats’ durability in this year’s midterms, particularly in a closely watched swing state, though the November ticket and voter turnout will be much different than a court election.
Democratic candidates have recently won upset victories throughout the country in places typically held by Republicans, giving them momentum heading into November. Voters often side against the president in midterm elections.
Read the full story here:
In other developments:
Shortly before his 8pm ET deadline for Iran to reopen the strait of Hormuz, or face the death of its “whole civilization”, Donald Trump posted on social media that the US had reached a temporary ceasefire agreement with Iran. Details of the agreement are still forthcoming and bombing continues across the region.
Iranian officials will meet with the United States for talks beginning Friday. Pakistan, which brokered the ceasefire agreement, will host the negotiations in Islamabad.
The Pentagon will hold a press briefing at 8am ET today. Defense secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, are expected to attend.
Some Democrats criticized the ceasefire deal, saying its terms, if true, would cede major concessions to Iran, including control over the strait of Hormuz. Others, including New York congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called for Congress to invoke the 25th amendment to remove Trump from office after he “threatened a genocide against the Iranian people”.
Several Republicans cheered the president’s decision, casting it as shrewd and tactical. “This is a strong first step toward holding Iran accountable,” said senator Rick Scott of Florida.
Shelly Kittleson, the US journalist who was kidnapped in Baghdad by the Iran-backed Iraqi militia Kataib Hezbollah last week, has been released, said secretary of state Marco Rubio.
Repulican Clay Fuller won Georgia’s special election to replace Marjorie Taylor Greene in the House of Representatives. In line with special elections for Congress since the start of Trump’s term, his Democratic rival, Shawn Harris, overperformed.
