President Donald Trump ’s top advisers and Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, said Monday that they had no basis for the small Central American nation to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported there last month.
Trump administration officials emphasized Abrego Garcia, who was sent to a notorious gang prison in El Salvador, was a citizen of that country and the U.S. has no say in his future. And Bukele, who has been a vital partner for the Trump administration in its deportation efforts, said he does not “have the power to return him to the United States.”
The Supreme Court has called for the Trump administration to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
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Trump wants Congress to end daylight saving time
President Trump on Friday urged Congress to “push hard for more Daylight at the end of a day” in his latest dig at the semiannual changing of clocks.
Trump, in a post on his Truth Social media network, said it would be “Very popular and, most importantly, no more changing of the clocks, a big inconvenience and, for our government, A VERY COSTLY EVENT!!!”
The Republican president’s position calling for more daylight would push the schedule forward, keeping the country on daylight saving time. His post came a day after a Senate panel heard testimony examining whether to set one time all year instead of shifting.
There’s been growing interest in states to standardize daylight saving time in recent years.
▶ Read more about daylight savings time
Emboldened anti-abortion faction wants women who have abortions to face criminal charges
Advocates involved in the abortion debate are warning about the widening influence of a movement that seeks to outlaw all abortions and enforce the ban with criminal prosecution of any women who have abortions.
Mainstream anti-abortion groups have largely shied away from legislation that would punish women for having abortions, but abortion abolitionists believe abortion should be considered homicide and punished with the full force of the law.
So far this year, bills introduced in at least 12 states — Alabama, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Texas — would allow prosecutors to charge those who have abortions with homicide. In some of those states, women could be subject to the death penalty if the bills were to become law.
“With the reversal of Roe v. Wade, now states can pass the most severe abortion bans, which has galvanized the anti-abortion movement as a whole, including this part of it,” said Rachel Rebouche, dean of Temple University Beasley School of Law in Philadelphia. “Certainly the fall of Roe has brought abortion abolitionists one step closer to what they want — banning abortion nationwide.”
▶ Read more about the movement to charge women who have abortions
Air Force Gen. Dan Caine has been sworn in as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
That’s nearly two months after President Trump fired his predecessor.
A formal White House ceremony is expected this week.
Caine, a decorated F-16 fighter pilot and well-respected officer, took over the role Saturday and was at the Pentagon over the weekend after Trump signed the necessary documents to allow him to fill the job.
He’ll serve the remainder of the four-year term of Air Force Gen. CQ Brown Jr., who was fired by Trump as part of a broader purge of military officers believed to endorse diversity and equity programs.
El Salvador’s leader shares an inside look at meeting with Trump
Before the press entered the Oval Office, Trump and Bukele chatted in a video posted on social media by the leader of El Salvador.
The U.S. president said he wanted to send “homegrowns” to be incarcerated in El Salvador, and he suggested “you’ve got to build five more places,” suggesting Bukele doesn’t have enough prison capacity for all of the U.S. citizens Trump would like to send there.
Trump also praised Bukele for his team’s slickly produced video of migrants arriving in El Salvador after being deported by the U.S.
“That’s what people want to see. Respect. They want to see respect,” Trump said.
He added, “you’ve got a good team. Can I use them?”
Bukele said “it’s like a movie, but it’s real.”
Former President Biden to make first public speech since leaving White House on Tuesday in Chicago
Biden will address the national conference of Advocates, Counselors and Representatives for the Disabled.
The former president has kept a very low profile since leaving office Jan. 20 — despite Trump scoffing repeatedly at his predecessor’s mental competency.
Organizers of the conference say participants are “committed to safeguarding and strengthening Social Security for the generations to come.”
Trump has pledged to shield Social Security from possible cuts, even as Democrats say it, and other federal entitlements like Medicare, could face funding trims to help offset tax reductions the administration supports.
Trump says he plans to provide temporary exemptions to automakers on his tariffs
And the president said he’s talked with Apple CEO Tim Cook, whose company could be hurt if the China tariffs become permanent.
“They need a little bit of time,” Trump said of the automakers that would have to upend their supply chains to reduce their exposure to Trump’s import taxes.
Trump also said he had talked to Cook and “helped” him by exempting electronics from some of his China tariffs.
“I don’t want to hurt anybody but the end result is we’re going to get to the position of greatness for our country,” said Trump.
The U.S. president also theorized that China and Vietnam were meeting “to figure out: how do we screw the United States of America?”
Seizing on the March consumer price index, Trump says he’s fixed inflation
“We already solved inflation,” Trump told reporters gathered Monday in the Oval Office.
The U.S. president was touting the 2.4% annual inflation rate seen in the monthly consumer price report released last Thursday. Many economists are hesitant to claim a single report makes up a broader trend. Many economists and consumers worry Trump’s tariffs will cause prices to go up in ways that hurt the economy.
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An earlier version of this item incorrectly said the report came out Monday instead of last Thursday.
Trump suggests Iran is ‘tapping us along’
The president expressed some impatience at the pace of nuclear negotiations with Iran.
“I think they’re tapping us along,” he said.
The next meeting is scheduled for this coming weekend.
“These are radicalized people. And they cannot have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
Trump is again praising his own health after undergoing an annual physical
He says the results indict “you’ve got me for a little longer.”
The president spent hours Friday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He said after it that testing went well.
A medical report on the physical was released Sunday. But Trump brought up the test again a day later, telling reporters in the Oval Office on Monday that he did well on a cognitive exam performed as part of it.
“I like taking them because they’re not too tough for me to take,” Trump said of cognitive tests. He said his health was good enough that he should be around for years or at the very least “a little longer.”
Bondi: US would provide plane if El Salvador returns Abrego Garcia, which Bukele called ‘preposterous’
Trump referred questions about Abrego Garcia to Attorney General Pam Bondi, who said he was illegally in the U.S. and that courts have ruled that Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang.
“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That’s not up to us,” Bondi said.
She called the issue “international matters” and “foreign affairs” and said the U.S. would facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return of El Salvador wanted to send him back by providing an airplane.
Bukele was asked if he plans to return Abrego Garcia and he asked how he could return him and said it was “preposterous.” He called Abrego Garcia “a terrorist” and that he had no power to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
In a complaint, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have disputed the government’s claims that he was in a gang.
Trump: Man accused of setting fire to Pennsylvania governor’s mansion is ‘probably just a whack job’
The president was asked about Cody Balmer, who police say broke into the mansion, set a fire that caused significant damage and forced Gov. Josh Shapiro, his family and guests to evacuate the building during the Jewish holiday of Passover. He said, “The attacker was not a fan of Trump.”
Trump’s comments came in the Oval Office as he met with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele.
Trump added, “The attacker basically wasn’t a fan of anybody” and also noted, “A thing like that cannot be allowed to happen.”
Trump declines to criticize Russia for the recent strike on the Ukrainian city of Sumy
Trump criticized former President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy but not Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
“If Biden were competent and if Zelenskyy were competent . . . that war should’ve never been allowed to happen,” Trump said in the Oval Office.
Referring to Putin, Trump said “I’m not saying anybody’s an angel.”
Trump has previously described the strike on Sumy as a “mistake.” On Monday, he said the mistake was allowing the war to start in the first place.
“Biden could’ve stopped it and Zelenskyy could’ve stopped it and Putin should’ve never started it,” he said. “Everybody’s to blame.”
Trump and Bukele discuss transgender athletes, which Bukele calls ‘violence’
Trump and Bukele quickly got into a discussion about transgender athletes in the White House, with the U.S. president asking his counterpart from El Salvador, “Do you allow men to play in women’s sports?”
“That’s violence,” Bukele responded.
Trump said there are people in the U.S. who “fight to the death” to allow transgender athletes to play and Bukele said, “We’re big on protecting women.”
Though Trump frequently speaks about transgender athletes, he said, “I don’t like talking about it because I want to save it for just before the next election.”
Trump meets with Salvadoran president in the Oval Office
Trump is meeting with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in the Oval Office, telling the visiting head of state “you are helping us out” by holding migrants deported from the United States in a notorious prison in El Salvador.
Trump said his administration’s hardline policies have restored order along the U.S.-Mexico border. He said of the changes, “We’re proud of them. Now we just need to get the criminals and murders and rapists”out of “our country.”
Bukele arrives at the White House
Trump greeted Bukele at the White House on Monday and ignored shouted questions from reporters about Abrego Garcia.
The president shook Bukele’s hand and directed the leader of El Salvador towards waiting reporters to pose for pictures and Trump pumped his fist.
They then went inside together.
Trump’s schedule for Monday
This morning, the president is meeting with the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele. After the meeting, they will have lunch together. This afternoon, at 3 p.m., Trump will meet with The Ohio State University football team, the 2025 College National Football champions.
Some top tech leaders have embraced Trump. That’s created a political divide in Silicon Valley
Like many in the tech industry, Jeremy Lyons used to think of himself as a relatively apolitical guy.
The only time he had participated in a demonstration before now was in the opening days of Trump’s first presidential term, when he joined fellow Google workers walking out of the company’s Silicon Valley campus to protest immigration restrictions. Google’s co-founder and its chief executive officer joined them.
Last weekend was Lyons’ second, also against Trump, but it had a different feel.
The man directing thousands of marchers with a bullhorn in downtown San Jose on April 5 was another tech worker who wouldn’t give his full name for fear of being identified by Trump backers. Marchers were urged not to harass drivers of Tesla vehicles, which have gone from a symbol of Silicon Valley’s environmental futurism to a pro-Trump icon. And no tech executives were anywhere to be seen, only months after several joined Trump at his inauguration.
To Lyons, the change says as much about what’s happened to Silicon Valley over the past quarter-century as it does about the atmosphere of fear surrounding many Trump critics nowadays.
“One of the things I’ve seen over that time is a shift from a nerdy utopia to a money first, move fast and break things,” Lyons said.
▶ Read more about Silicon Valley’s political divide
US funding cuts have halted or threatened aid programs in Syria
That includes health and nutrition services for displaced people and child protection for children in notorious camps housing the families of alleged Islamic State members.
While funding cut from the World Food Program in Syria was restored, other cuts remain, including nearly $12 million from Save the Children and nearly $2 million from World Vision.
World Vision Syria Response Director Emmanuel Isch said the organization has largely halted a health and nutrition program serving 30,000 to 40,000 internally displaced people, many of whom “have limited access to basic services.”
Save the Children Country Director Bujar Hoxha said it has reprogrammed funding to continue case management for unaccompanied minors in the al-Hol and al-Roj camps and programs for malnourished children in different parts of Syria.
“But that is for very limited timeline,” he said, noting that within a few weeks “we have to either find a way to continue funding, or we have to close it down.”
Trump says ‘I just got here’ despite pledge to end Ukraine war before taking office
President Trump issued a statement on social media over the ongoing war in Ukraine, saying he had “NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS WAR.”
Despite his repeated promise as a candidate that he’d have the Russia-Ukraine war settled within 24 hours — even before taking office — he said Monday: “I just got here.”
“The War between Russia and Ukraine is Biden’s war, not mine. I just got here, and for four years during my term, had no problem in preventing it from happening,” Trump said.
Trump last month said he’d been “a little bit sarcastic” when he had past pledged he’d resolve the war.
Top White House aide says Abrego Garcia’s fate is up to El Salvador
Ahead of Trump’s meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, a top White House aide signaled the U.S. president wouldn’t be asking his counterpart to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
“It’s up to El Salvador and to the government and the people of El Salvador what the fate of their own citizens is,” Stephen Miller, a deputy chief of staff, told reporters at the White House on Monday morning. “We can’t extradite citizens of foreign countries to our country over the objection of those countries.”
Senator seeks meeting with El Salvador President Nayib Bukele over Abrego Garcia’s return
Sen. Chris Van Hollen says he plans to travel to El Salvador this week if Abrego Garcia, a constituent, isn’t returned by that time.
“Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia never should have been abducted and illegally deported, and the courts have made clear: the Administration must bring him home, now,” the Maryland Democrat said in a statement.
He said that since the Trump administration “appears to be ignoring these court mandates,” more action is needed.
Wall Street joins a global rally after Trump exempts some electronics from tariffs
Stocks are rallying worldwide after President Trump relaxed some of his tariffs, for now at least.
The S&P 500 was 1.7% higher in early trading Monday. It’s coming off a chaotic week where it careened through historic swings as markets struggled to catch up with Trump’s moves on tariffs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 434 points, or 1.1%, and the Nasdaq composite was up 2.5%. Apple, Nvidia and other big technology companies led the way on Wall Street after Trump said he was exempting smartphones, computers and some other electronics from some of his stiff tariffs.
▶ Read more about the financial markets
A key ally in Trump’s migrant crackdown is coming for a visit
President Trump is hosting Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, at the White House on Monday as the small Central American nation becomes a critical lynchpin of the U.S. administration’s mass deportation operation.
Since March, El Salvador has accepted from the U.S. more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants — whom Trump administration officials have accused of gang activity and violent crimes — and placed them inside the country’s notorious maximum-security gang prison just outside of the capital, San Salvador. It’s also holding a Maryland man who the administration admits was wrongly deported but has not been returned to the U.S., despite court orders to do so.
That has made Bukele, who remains extremely popular in El Salvador due in part to the crackdown on the country’s powerful street gangs, a vital ally for the Trump administration, which has offered little evidence for its claims that the Venezuelan immigrants were in fact gang members, nor has it released names of those deported.
▶ Read more about El Salvador President Nayib Bukele
White House responds to China on rare earths
Kevin Hassett, a top economic adviser to President Trump, said China’s decision to stop exports of some rare earth minerals was “concerning.”
Rare earths are critical ingredients for technology and electronic manufacturing.
“The rare earth limits are being studied very carefully, and they’re concerning, and we’re thinking about all the options right now,” Hassett told reporters outside the White House.
He spoke to Fox Business earlier in the morning, where he said the administration was “100% not” expecting a recession as Trump disrupts global trade with his tariff plans.
Trump says CBS and ’60 Minutes’ should ‘pay a big price’ for going after him
Trump bitterly attacked “60 Minutes” shortly after the CBS news magazine broadcast stories on Ukraine and Greenland on Sunday, saying the network was out of control and should “pay a big price” for going after him.
“Almost every week, 60 Minutes ... mentions the name ‘TRUMP’ in a derogatory and defamatory way, but this Weekend’s ‘BROADCAST’ tops them all,” the president said on his Truth Social platform. He called on Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr to impose maximum fines and punishment “for their unlawful and illegal behavior.”
The network had no immediate comment.
Trump has an ongoing $20 billion lawsuit against “60 Minutes” for how it edited an interview with Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris last fall. The president claims it was edited in a way to make Harris look good, something the newscast denies. But there are ongoing reports that Trump’s lawyers and CBS’ parent company are involved in settlement talks.
▶ Read more about Trump’s comments on “60 Minutes”
Trump is ‘fully fit’ to serve as commander in chief, his doctor says after recent physical
Trump’s doctor says the oldest man elected president is “fully fit” to serve as commander in chief as the White House released results Sunday of Trump’s recent physical exam. The 78-year-old Trump is 20 pounds lighter since his checkup as president in 2020 showed him bordering on obesity.
His physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, cited an “active lifestyle” that ”continues to contribute significantly” to the Republican president’s well-being. Trump turns 79 on June 14.
In a three-page summary of the comprehensive exam from Friday, the doctor said Trump is “fully fit to execute the duties of Commander-in-Chief and Head of State.”
Asked about the exam on Sunday and how he stays healthy, Trump said, “Because I enjoy what I’m doing and I like the results.
“I think we’re making America great again and it makes me feel good. It probably keeps me happy,” he told reporters accompanying him on a flight back to Washington from Florida.
▶ Read more about Trump’s physical results
Trump’s commerce secretary says new electronics tariff exemptions are temporary, chip tariffs coming
Tariff exemptions announced Friday on electronics like smartphones and laptops are only a temporary reprieve until the Trump administration develops a new tariff approach specific to the semiconductor industry, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said Sunday.
White House officials, including Trump himself, spent Sunday downplaying the significance of exemptions that lessen but won’t eliminate the effect of U.S. tariffs on imports of popular consumer devices and their key components.
Trump added to the confusion hours later, declaring on social media that there was no “exception” at all because the goods are “just moving to a different” bucket and will still face a 20% tariff as part of his administration’s move to punish China for its role in fentanyl trafficking.
China’s commerce ministry in a Sunday statement welcomed the change as a small step even as it called for the U.S. to completely cancel the rest of its tariffs.
▶ Read more about possible tariff exemptions for electronics
China’s Xi says there are no winners in a tariff war as he visits Southeast Asia
China’s leader Xi Jinping said no one wins in a trade war as he kicked off a diplomatic tour of Southeast Asia on Monday, reiterating China’s commitment to global trade in contrast with Trump’s latest tariffs moves.
Although Trump has paused some tariffs, he has kept in place 145% duties on China, the world’s second-largest economy.
“There are no winners in a trade war, or a tariff war,” Xi wrote in an editorial jointly published in Vietnamese and Chinese official media. “Our two countries should resolutely safeguard the multilateral trading system, stable global industrial and supply chains, and open and cooperative international environment.”
Xi’s visit lets China show Southeast Asia it is a “responsible superpower in the way that contrasts with the way the U.S. under President Donald Trump presents to the whole world,” said Nguyen Khac Giang, a visiting fellow at Singapore’s ISEAS–Yusof Ishak Institute.
▶ Read more about Xi’s trip to Southeast Asia
Trump team tries to project confidence and calm after his tariff moves rattled markets
Trump administration officials were out in force across the television networks Sunday defending his economic policies after another week of reeling markets that saw the Republican administration reverse course on some of its steepest tariffs.
White House advisers and Cabinet members tried to project confidence and calm amid Trump’s on-again, off-again approach to tariffs on imported goods from around the world. But their explanations about the overall agenda, coupled with Trump’s latest statements, also reflected shifting narratives from a president who, as a candidate in 2024, promised an immediate economic boost and lower prices but now asks American businesses and consumers for patience.
A week ago, Trump’s team stood by his promise to leave the impending tariffs in place without exceptions. They used their latest news show appearances to defend his move to ratchet back to a 10% universal tariff for most nations except China (145%).
▶ Read more about the Trump team’s messaging surrounding tariffs
The Associated Press
