Johnson, Thune announce plan to end DHS shutdown ‘in the coming days’
(WASHINGTON) — House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune announced on Wednesday the Republican-controlled Congress “in the coming days” will fully fund the Department of Homeland Security through both the appropriations process and reconciliation process.
“In following this two-track approach, the Republican Congress will fully reopen the Department, make sure all federal workers are paid, and specifically fund immigration enforcement and border security for the next three years so that those law-enforcement activities can continue uninhibited,” the top Republicans said in a statement.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
U.S. Sailors prepare ordnance on the flight deck of Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury, Mar. 4, 2026. (US Navy)
(WASHINGTON) — Russian officials denied in a phone call with President Donald Trump that they are sharing intelligence on U.S. military assets with Iran, U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff said Tuesday.
“We can take them at their word,” Witkoff said during an interview with CNBC. “That’s a better question for the intel people, but let’s hope that they’re not sharing.”
Trump spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin Monday for about an hour.
“Yesterday on the call with the president, the Russians said that they have not been sharing. That’s what they said,” Witkoff said.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday that Trump and Witkoff sent a message to Russia that “if that was taking place. It’s not something they would be happy with, and they hope that it is not taking place.”
“As for further details about the discussions between these two leaders, I’ll leave it to the president to divulge any more of that conversation,” Leavitt said.
ABC News reported on Friday that the U.S. believes that Russia has been providing Iran the locations of American troops in the Middle East, including aircraft and ships, according to two people familiar with the intelligence.
An intelligence official confirmed to ABC News the U.S. belief that Russia is providing intelligence to Iran but did not say exactly what type of information was being shared.
The intelligence sharing could enable the Iranians to target specific locations with ballistic missiles and drones, putting U.S. service members at risk.
Trump himself downplayed Russia’s involvement during a news conference Monday in Florida.
“… he wants to be helpful,” Trump said of Putin and his involvement with Iran.
Putin has been a firm supporter of Iran as the conflict has unfolded. Putin congratulated the country’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and said in a statement that he reaffirmed Russia’s “unwavering support for Tehran and our solidarity with Iranian friends” in a letter put out by the Kremlin.
Trump said that Putin was “very impressed” with Operation Epic Fury.
“We talked about that with President Putin. He was very impressed with what he saw because nobody’s ever seen anything quite like it,” Trump later added in the news conference.
Over the weekend, Trump said any intelligence sharing between Russia and Iran was inconsequential.
“If you take a look at what’s happened to Iran in the last week, if they’re getting information, it’s not helping them much,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he flew to Miami.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks from the Cross Hall of the White House on April 1, 2026 in Washington, DC. (Alex Brandon-Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump will hold a news conference Monday in the White House briefing room, where he’s expected to give more details on the “daring” weekend rescue of a U.S. airman whose fighter jet was shot down over Iran.
Trump teased the upcoming briefing at the White House Easter Egg Roll.
“Those two pilots were incredible, brave, and we thank them,” Trump said.
Looming large over the president’s upcoming comments, however, is his latest deadline for Iran to make a peace deal or reopen the Strait of Hormuz — by 8 p.m. ET Tuesday — or face massive U.S. attacks on critical infrastructure, including energy and water facilities.
“Right now they’re not too strong at all, in my opinion,” Trump said of Iran at the Easter event. “But we’re soon going to find out, aren’t we?”
Trump told ABC News Senior Political Correspondent Rachel Scott on Sunday that if no peace deal is reached with Iran in the next 48 hours, “we’re blowing up the entire country.”
But in a profanity-laced post on his social media platform early on Sunday, Trump told the Iranian regime, “you’ll be living in Hell” if it did not open the critical maritime shipping channel for oil and trade.
“Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!” Trump wrote in the post.
Experts have warned that possible attacks on civilian infrastructure could constitute war crimes and violate international law, a claim Iran makes as well. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, when pressed on the issue last week, told reporters: “Of course, this administration and the United States Armed Forces will always act within the confines of the law.”
Iran’s deputy foreign minister, Kazem Gharibabadi, said in a post on X that if the U.S. attacks power plants, then Iran would deliver “a decisive, immediate, and regret-inducing response.”
Amid the threats of escalation, questions remain about the status of talks between the U.S. and Tehran, after President Trump said last week that the U.S. was carrying out negotiations with “much more reasonable” leadership.
Asked about reports of a new draft proposal that includes a 45-day ceasefire and reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a White House official told ABC News on Monday: “This is one of many ideas, and POTUS has not signed off on it. Operation Epic Fury continues. President Trump will speak more at 1 p.m.”
When asked about the ceasefire proposal, Trump said at the Easter event that he’s seen “every proposal.”
“It’s a significant step, it’s not good enough but it’s a very significant step,” Trump said.
Iran said it will not accept a ceasefire without “suitable guarantees,” a Pakistani security official told ABC News.
Ken Martin, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, speaks to the reporters following a press conference, August 05, 2025, in Aurora, Illinois. (Scott Olson/Getty Images)
With six months until the high-stakes midterm elections, the Democratic Party is struggling to raise money and keep up with its GOP counterparts, leading to frustrations among some donors with Democratic National Committee leadership and its chair Ken Martin.
At the end of March, the Republican National Committee outraised the DNC $21.2 million to $11.4 million, according to new reports filed with the Federal Election Commission. The RNC reported having nearly eight times more cash on hand — $116 million to the DNC’s $13.8 million. In addition, the DNC is a little over $18 million in debt, according to FEC filings.
Democrats, though, are performing better than they did in 2018 at this point in the cycle when the party had raised $7 million and had little more than $9 million cash on hand. The party had just under $6 million in debt at that time, too.
Multiple Democratic bundlers, strategists and donors told ABC News that they are still angry over how funds were allocated during the 2024 presidential election — and frustrated at Martin’s unwillingness to publicly release a DNC audit that examined what went wrong for Democrats in 2024.
After Martin won his campaign to be DNC chair in 2025 following the presidential election, he committed to conducting a review of the 2024 election and making it public. However, Martin has yet to release the full audit, saying instead he’s focused on looking forward and has released “lessons” from the audit.
Democratic officials and leaders — including Democratic Sen. Brian Schatz, who is poised to become the No. 2 Senate Democrat after the midterms — have urged for the report to be released as they look toward the midterms.
“What’s in the report that you wouldn’t want publicized?” “Pod Save America” host and former Obama administration speechwriter Jon Favreau asked Martin during an episode released April 28.
Martin replied that there was no “smoking gun” and that he wants to “keep the focus on the lessons.”
A longtime DNC finance member, who spoke to ABC News on the condition of anonymity, noted many donors are still questioning how funds were allocated during the 2024 race and the unreleased results of the DNC’s promised audit.
The member said donors were upset that, despite the DNC’s massive fundraising during the 2024 election, Kamala Harris didn’t win a single battleground state. It raised concerns about allocations toward paid media, voter outreach and, most troubling for many donors, the amount of money that went to consultants.
But following the 2024 election and Martin taking over the reins at the DNC, there has been a shift toward investing in state parties long before elections, as well as podcasts, influencers and more modern forms of public relations and communications
Cooper Teboe, a Democratic strategist in California, told ABC News that donors are “feeling incredibly jaded, incredibly unhappy” with the DNC over the 2024 election — with some questioning whether their financial contributions make a difference.
“We’re coming off of record fundraising for Democrats that seem to really not move the needle,” Teboe said. “So, folks have been in a position of, well, does my money actually do anything? Does my money do anything to change the needle?”
DNC spokesperson Mia Ehrenberg said the party is investing in ways that will help Democrats win.
“Democrats are putting our resources into the field, building infrastructure to power wins today and for years to come, and delivering overperformances all across the country, meanwhile Republicans are losing elections at a humiliating rate in spite of their billionaire donors,” Ehrenberg said in a statement to ABC News.
As frustrations with Martin over how he’s handling his job grow, a few members have started exploring options and rules for removing a chair, a source familiar with the situation told ABC News — although the source framed the efforts as very informal and focused on asking about the process.
“I don’t see Ken as a leader. The DNC reached out to me probably six months ago, and I told them to take me off their list, that it’s a waste of their time to send me anything, and the more they send, the less chances they ever have of getting me back,” said one longtime Democratic donor, who is now focused on individual candidates as opposed to the national committee.
Asked about his job to raise money for the party on “Pod Save America,” Martin said “the job of the DNC chair is singular: It’s to win,” adding that he has been helping the party succeed in that effort.
Michael Knapp, a DNC member, said he supports Martin’s work as chair, telling ABC News that Martin “came in with a clear mandate to shift the DNC towards long-term party building.”
“[Ken’s] investing in state parties, organizing, partisan voter registration, infrastructure … the things that actually win elections over time,” Knapp said to ABC News in a text message.
“On the fundamentals of the job, I think he’s very strong. The DNC’s raising significant grassroots money even while paying down inherited debt,” Knapp also said.
Daniel Weiner, director of the Brennan Center for Justice’s elections and government program, told ABC News that historically, the party out of power has had an “uphill battle with fundraising that’s not unique to this moment.”
“Frankly, over the years, the president has become much more habituated to raising the sort of big money that you would expect an incumbent to raise, and that Democratic incumbents have also raised, to some degree,” Weiner said. “And so we see the more traditional pattern emerging of the party in power just raises a lot more money than the party out of power.”
A longtime DNC finance member said frustrations with the DNC have led donors to focus on “individual elections as opposed to the DNC as an organization.”
While the national party is struggling to raise money, individual Democratic candidates are seeing a massive cash infusion ahead of November’s midterm elections, as donors show greater interest in investing in individual candidates.
Many of the Democratic Party’s top Senate candidates posted gainful fundraising hauls for the first quarter of 2026, massively outraising their Republican opponents, according to FEC filings.
“I think folks are very desperate for new leaders and new voices in the party, and I think that’s why you’re seeing the party infrastructure raising less, because the donors, both the donor class and the grassroots, want to see what is out there to define the future of the Democratic message and that’s just not going to come from the DNC,” Teboe said.
One senior Democratic official in touch with donors and party leaders told ABC News that while many big donors are frustrated by the results of the last election, an increasing number are expected to get off the sidelines and contribute more to various Democratic candidates and organizations through the summer and fall.
