Trump takes down image from his social media platform that depicted him as a Jesus-like figure
US President Donald Trump speaks to members of the media outside the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, US, on Monday, April 13, 2026. (Salwan Georges/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — An AI-generated photo that President Donald Trump posted Monday on his social media platform that depicted him as a Jesus-like figure and drew criticism from some of the president’s religious backers was removed roughly 13 hours after it was posted.
At an unscheduled news conference at the White House Monday afternoon, Trump acknowledged he posted the image, but said he thought it was an image of him as a “doctor.”
“Well, it wasn’t a picture, it was me,” the president said. “I did post it, and I thought it was me as the doctor and it had to do with Red Cross as a Red Cross worker there, which we support.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Gavin Newsom, governor of California, at the Munich Security Conference in Munich, Germany, on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. Nuclear deterrence is set to be a hot topic at the conference. (Photographer: Alex Kraus/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — While it’s not Des Moines or Manchester, Munich may be on some Democrats’ path to a White House run or higher office.
Several Democrats thought to be considering 2028 presidential runs are attending the Munich Security Conference in Germany this weekend to boost their profiles and strengthen bonds with European allies strained in the first year of President Donald Trump’s second term.
From Gov. Gavin Newsom of California to Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the Democrats plan to push an alternative to Trump’s aggressive and transactional foreign policy agenda, lawmakers, aides and analysts told ABC News.
Newsom is expected to address the conference, meet with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and formalize a new partnership between California and Ukraine.
In a post on X, Gallego previewed his visit, writing: “I’m headed to the Munich Security Conference this weekend to talk about rebuilding alliances and restoring steady American leadership. To meet the threat of China, the world needs a partner it can count on again, not chaos.”
At last year’s gathering, Vice President JD Vance criticized European allies, accusing them of censoring right-wing political parties and not doing more to stop illegal migration.
Since then, Trump’s on-again, off-again tariffs, repeated threats to seize Greenland and calls for NATO allies to spend more on security have forced longtime U.S. allies to question American commitments.
“We know the old order is not coming back. We shouldn’t mourn it,” Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said in a speech in Davos, Switzerland, last month. “Middle powers must act together because if we’re not at the table, we’re on the menu.”
Democrats will have to reaffirm their support for strong transatlantic ties while navigating European skepticism after Trump’s 2024 victory, Damian Murphy, a former Democratic foreign policy staffer and senior vice president of National Security at the Center for American Progress, told ABC News.
“They have to be careful not to overpromise and send too much of a message of reassurance, because at the end of the day, Trump is still in the White House and still directs foreign policy,” he said. “But it’s important for a European audience to understand that that’s not a monolithic view.”
The conference is also an opportunity for Democrats to bring new perspectives to the world stage and give them an opportunity to “establish relationships” with world leaders, Murphy added.
Ocasio-Cortez, who is one of the most prominent progressive voices in the party, is running for reelection in 2026 and has not said whether she plans to run for Senate or the White House in 2028, though supporters have encouraged her to do so.
The New York Democrat, who does not serve on any national security committees in Congress like most lawmakers traveling to Munich, will participate in two panels on Friday, as she takes a bigger step onto the foreign policy stage.
Matt Duss, a former adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who has advised Ocasio-Cortez on foreign policy, told ABC News he expects her to share a progressive perspective on foreign policy, one intertwined with her domestic politics aimed at combating economic inequality and improving the conditions for working people.
“I think it’s safe to say that the American electorate has some very serious questions and different ideas about how the U.S. should act in the world than it has previously,” Duss told ABC News.
Ocasio-Cortez has also been a critic of Israel’s war in Gaza against Hamas and accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people. She also voted against an amendment that would have stripped U.S. funding for Israel’s missile defense systems, but has pushed back against U.S. offensive military aid to Israel.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is leading the Trump administration’s delegation to Munich, called the summit “an important conference” and that other delegations “want honesty” and “want to know where we’re going, where we’d like to go with them.”
“We live in a new era in geopolitics, and it’s going to require all of us to sort of reexamine what that looks like and what our role is going to be,” he said.
ABC News’ Isabella Murray contributed to this report
Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House March 24, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill on Thursday said that the Supreme Court’s ruling on Wednesday against the state’s congressional map means that the planned May 16 congressional primaries won’t proceed as scheduled as lawmakers consider drawing a new map.
“The Supreme Court previously stayed an injunction against the State’s enforcement of the current Congressional map. By the Court’s order, however, that stay automatically terminated with yesterday’s decision. Accordingly, the State is currently enjoined from carrying out congressional elections under the current map. We are working together with the Legislature and the Secretary of State’s office to develop a path forward,” they wrote in the statement.
Landry told at least some Republican House candidates in Louisiana that he plans on Friday to suspend the state’s primaries, according to multiple Republican sources.
A Republican source told ABC News that the governor called one candidate on Wednesday and said he is making calls to all of the candidates that he plans on Friday to suspend the election using executive power. The Washington Post was first to report about the governor’s calls.
The source said it was unclear if this will apply to all of the planned primaries, which include a closely watched Senate primary, or just the primaries for the House that would be impacted by a new congressional map.
ABC News has reached out to Landry’s office and the office of the Louisiana secretary of state.
The Supreme Court’s ruling on Wednesday reverses lower court decisions that said Louisiana’s map, drawn after the 2020 census, violated the Voting Rights Act because only one of six districts was majority Black. More than a third of the state’s voting age population is Black.
Those courts had ordered Louisiana to add a second majority-Black district, a process which in turn explicitly relied on race. In his opinion, Justice Samuel Alito said that move infringed on the rights of white voters under the 14th Amendment’s equal protection clause.
Absentee ballots in Louisiana have already been sent out, and votes have likely been cast, although early voting in person does not start until Saturday, May 2. Absentee voting is relatively limited in Louisiana and requires a valid excuse.
Democratic Rep. Troy Carter from Louisiana said on Wednesday at the Congressional Black Caucus press conference that elections are too close at this point for congressional maps to change.
“We are in the 2026 election cycle now. The Supreme Court has set precedent just four years ago in a case in Louisiana, they ruled the district to be unconstitutional, said it’s too close to the election now, therefore we will do it in the next cycle,” Carter said, later adding that “if precedent matters, then clearly this is something that will have to be taken up in 2028 cycle, not the 2026.”
But the Louisiana’s existing map cannot be used, according to the Supreme Court’s ruling. Technically the state could revert back to its original 2022 map with one majority-Black district or redraw a new map entirely. Some legal experts have argued Louisiana could still keep its current map for the May primaries.
On Thursday, Murrill put in a filing with the Supreme Court saying, “Louisiana currently ‘is prohibited from using SB8’s map of congressional districts for any election’. The Governor and Attorney General are thus working with the Legislature– which is in session until June 1 — to immediately produce a constitutional map and electoral process for Louisiana.”
On Wednesday, Landry praised the ruling, but declined to say if it would have an impact on those primaries or not.
“Look, I think that anyone who jumps to conclusions right now — I think it’s going to take us at least 24 hours to really pore through the opinion to understand what exactly that opinion is telling us,” he told reporters. But he left the option open to a map redraw: “I mean, look, the Supreme Court picked an interesting time to be able to drop that on us… the court decides to give it to us on the eve of the election. What are they telling us? Are they telling us we have to draw? Telling us we don’t have to draw?”
ABC News’ Devin Dwyer and Hannah Demissie contributed to this report.
U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) arrives to testify during a confirmation hearing to be the next Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in the Dirksen Senate Office Building on March 18, 2026 in Washington, DC.(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Sen. Markwayne Mullin’s nomination to be the secretary of Homeland Security narrowly cleared a committee vote Thursday morning with the help of Democratic Sen. John Fetterman, teeing up the Oklahoma Republican’s nomination for a final vote on the Senate floor as soon as next week.
Mullin’s nomination advanced out of Senate Homeland Security Committee by a vote of 8-7. He needed a simple majority of votes to clear the committee.
After a series of contentious exchanges during Wednesday’s confirmation hearing, Sen. Rand Paul, the committee’s chairman, ultimately cast a vote against Mullin in committee on Thursday. Fetterman was the only Democrat to cast a vote in his favor.
Fetterman’s vote proved to be critical for Mullin as Republicans only hold a one seat majority on the committee. Paul’s objection meant that at least one Democrat would be necessary to push Mullin over the line.
After the vote, Fetterman said he approached the Mullin vote with an “open mind.”
“We need a leader at DHS. We must reopen DHS. My AYE is rooted in a strong committed, constructive working relationship with Senator Mullin for our nation’s security,” Fetterman wrote in a post on X.
Mullin’s hearing came weeks after President Donald Trump fired DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, following her handling of the Minneapolis immigration enforcement and criticism that she used $220 million in taxpayer money for an ad campaign.
Mullin’s nomination will head to the Senate floor where he’ll need a simple majority of votes to be confirmed. He is expected to be approved by the chamber when he comes up for a final vote.
-ABC News’ Ivan Pereira contributed to this report.
