Majority of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs: ABC/Post/Ipsos poll

(WASHINGTON) — Republican Sen. Ron Johnson broke with President Donald Trump on his threats to bomb civilian infrastructure in Iran, saying in a podcast, “I hope and pray” he is “using this as bluster.”

“I do not want to see us start blowing up civilian infrastructure … We are not at war with the Iranian people. We are trying to liberate them,” Johnson, a Trump ally who rarely breaks with the president, said on the “John Solomon Reports” podcast out on Monday.

Johnson’s comments came after Trump has threatened to bomb bridges and power plants, which would be devastating for Iranian civilians. Some experts have warned that such actions could violate international law; many Democrats are saying it amounts to war crimes.

Trump has said that he will target those bridges and power plants in Iran if they don’t open up the critical Strait of Hormuz — giving Iran a deadline of 8 p.m. ET Tuesday to act.

Other lawmakers reacted to Trump’s social media post on Tuesday, hours ahead of his self-imposed deadline, in which he threatened that a “whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again” although he said “I don’t want that to happen.”

This comes on the heels of an Easter Sunday social media post where Trump threatened “Hell” if the Strait of Hormuz weren’t opened up.

Sen. Chuck Schumer, the Senate’s top Democrat, called President Trump an “extremely sick person” for threatening that a “whole civilization will die tonight.”

“Each Republican who refuses to join us in voting against this wanton war of choice owns every consequence of whatever the hell this is,” Schumer said in a post on X.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also called on Republicans to act.

“Congress must immediately end this reckless war of choice in Iran before Donald Trump plunges us into World War III. It’s time for every single Republican to put patriotic duty over party and stop the madness. Enough,” Jeffries said in a statement posted on X.

ABC News has reached out to Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson for comment.

Several House Democrats are calling on Congress to act as the war — now in its sixth week — continues.

Democratic Rep. Pramila Jayapal, of Washington, called Trump’s threat “outrageous, dangerous, and unhinged.”

“Trump’s illegal war in Iran has already led to enormous death and destruction, including a school bombing that killed over 100 children. Congress must immediately act to rein him in before more people die,” Jayapal wrote in a post on X.

Democratic Rep. Mike Quigley, of Illinois, said in a statement on X that Trump’s threat amounts to “mass murder” and that he is “urging every Cabinet Member and Republican leadership to call the President IMMEDIATELY.”

“The Iranian people do not deserve this,” Quigley wrote.

Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, of California, slammed Trump’s rhetoric, saying, “Threatening the annihilation of an entire civilization is dangerous beyond words, and hearing it from the person commanding our military should alarm every American.”

“This language is completely unacceptable from any president, let alone one who started this war without authorization from Congress and has no plan for what comes next,” Levin wrote.

Other conservative voices are breaking with Trump over his Iran threats.

Conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson offered scathing criticism of the president, blasting his recent threats toward Iran and specifically Trump’s profanity-laden threat to Iran on Easter Sunday.

“It is really the most real thing this president has ever done, and also the most revealing on every level. It is vile on every level,” Carlson said of Trump’s Sunday post during “The Tucker Carlson Show” on Monday. 

Carlson scolded the president directly, saying, “how dare you speak that way,” adding that Trump’s post was a “mockery of Christianity.”

Trump fired back at Carlson in a social media post on Tuesday morning, calling him a “low IQ person that has absolutely no idea what’s going on.”

ABC News’ Allison Pecorin, Lauren Peller, Nicholas Kerr and Will Steakin contributed to this report.

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(DAVOS, Switzerland) — President Donald Trump arrived on Wednesday in Zurich, Switzerland, ahead of his scheduled address in Davos.

Air Force One had earlier turned around mid-flight, after the crew identified “a minor electrical issue,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Tuesday night.

The aircraft turned back and landed at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland, where the president and those traveling with him were set to board a different aircraft and then resume travel to Switzerland for the global economic conference.

The flight issue came as Trump is making his first international trip of 2026.

In Davos, Trump is expected to deliver remarks focused on his vision of American dominance, including his desire to take over Greenland.

Trump’s increasingly antagonistic language over acquiring the Danish territory puts him at odds with fellow NATO countries and other allies.

Trump will lead the largest U.S. delegation to the World Economic Forum, according to event organizers, where he plans to meet with top business CEOs and international leaders, deliver a speech to conference attendees, and participate in the formal signing ceremony to solidify his Board of Peace that was proposed to oversee the recovery of Gaza but has since raised questions that it could expand to rival the United Nations.

This week, Trump will once again face some world leaders he has spent months criticizing as he continues to test the limits of his presidential power and his standing in the world following weeks of reignited controversy over the capture of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro and seizing the country’s oil and his public threats of acquiring Greenland by force, if necessary.

Since the start of his second term, Trump has slowly been building the case for why the U.S. should take control of Greenland, arguing it is vital for U.S. national security needs. In recent weeks his rhetoric on a takeover has escalated as he has refused to rule out military action.

Despite global pushback on his Greenland ambitions, Trump has refused to back down on his threats, saying “You’ll find out” when asked during a White House press briefing on Tuesday on how far he was willing to go to secure Greenland while dismissing the lack of support for a U.S. takeover. 

When pressed by ABC News’ Mary Bruce about the many Greenlanders who have loudly voiced disagreement with the idea of U.S. control, Trump said that once he talks to them, they’ll be “thrilled.”

Asked about the possibility of the NATO alliance breaking up if the U.S. seizes Greenland, Trump said: “I think that we will work something out where NATO’s going to be very happy and where we’re going to be very happy. But we need it for security purposes. We need it for national security and even world security. It’s very important.”

“We have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland. I’m leaving tonight, as you know, Davos, and we have a lot of meetings scheduled on Greenland, and I think things are going to work out pretty well, actually,” Trump said later.

“So I think something’s going to happen that’s going to be very good for everybody,” he said.

However, the president’s optimistic outlook on a resolution to both sides’ satisfaction comes as he increases attacks on NATO countries who are seeking to protect Greenland. Over the weekend, Trump threatened to impose a 10% tariff on eight NATO countries starting Feb. 1 if no deal is reached. The move, stemmed in part from the countries’ decision to send a small contingent of troops to Greenland in the wake of Trump’s threats. 

When Trump travels to Switzerland, the economic forum will be focused on “a spirit of dialogue” about how to better the world; however, ahead of his departure, the president touted his administration’s success during his second term while critiquing the leadership of his European counterparts in a show of force likely to be displayed during his visit.

“I think more than anything else, what I’m going to be speaking about is the tremendous success that we’ve had in one year. I didn’t think we could do it this fast … We have the most successful country in the world. We have the hottest country anywhere in the world by far,” Trump said.

“A lot of them could use some of the advice as to what we did,” he said of European allies, going on to lash out about energy and immigration.

Meanwhile, questions are swirling about the Board of Peace, which was originally billed as a committee that would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza from the Israel-Hamas war.

Critics and government leaders are now decrying the board, saying it undermines the United Nations. 

A draft of the charter now says the Board of Peace would “secure enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict,” not just Gaza. It also called for “a more nimble and effective international peace-building body.”

On his domestic agenda, Trump has for weeks now teased unveiling “some of the most aggressive housing reforms in American history” in Davos, including a ban on large institutional investors from buying single-family homes and calling for the federal government to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds.

Trump’s speech will follow months of the White House recasting the nation’s economic story as one of growth and falling prices due to Trump’s economic policies as the midterm election season looms. The president has spent time traveling the country to deliver this message to Americans, but now he will do so on a global stage.

Despite Trump’s rosy imagery of the state of the American economy, voters are still experiencing rising costs and Republicans have been expressing concerns with messaging on the economy. Pressed about this dichotomy on Tuesday, Trump dismissed assertions that he was failing to address the needs of Americans, once again pointing blame to the Biden administration, calling the job he has done as president “a miracle.”

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(WASHINGTON) — In the dead of night at 2:09 a.m., the House passed a bill to extend FISA through April 30 by unanimous consent, after Republicans tanked procedural votes on the controversial warrantless surveillance law.

The short-term extension buys GOP leaders more time to continue negotiations amid Republican infighting over the program that was set to expire on Monday.

Despite opposition from some GOP hardliners, Speaker Mike Johnson was this week still trying to determine a path forward to muscle through an 18-month clean extension of the program known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

The program allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad without a warrant, including when those people are interacting with Americans.

According to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the U.S. government believes it’s a vital tool for protecting the country against “hostile foreign adversaries, including terrorists, proliferators, and spies, and to inform cybersecurity efforts.”

House Republican leaders postponed a debate and a procedural vote on FISA that had been scheduled for 1 p.m. ET on Wednesday. The Senate now will need to consider the legislation.

President Donald Trump has urged Republicans to back the measure and hosted a group of hardliners at the White House Tuesday night to find a path forward as the law is set to expire on Monday.

“I am asking Republicans to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean Bill to the floor. We need to stick together when this Bill comes before the House Rules Committee today to keep it CLEAN!” Trump wrote on social media on Wednesday.

“Our Military Patriots desperately need FISA 702, and it is one of the reasons we have had such tremendous SUCCESS on the battlefield,” Trump added. “It has already prevented MANY such Attacks, and it is very important that it remain in full force and effect.”

CIA Director John Ratcliffe attended the House Republican closed-door conference meeting on Wednesday and also advocated for a clean extension of the program.

Hardline Republicans, who oppose a clean extension of the surveillance tool and demand reforms like a warrant requirement, were not convinced to change their position following the meeting.

Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland said “no” when asked if progress was made on FISA during the meeting.

“They have to deal with the FISA court’s objection to the warrantless searches,” Harris said.

There has been a continued debate over Section 702 because it sometimes allows the government to collect Americans’ communications without a warrant.

“Discussions are ongoing still,” Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona said leaving.

Rep. Keith Self of Texas, who attended the White House meeting on Tuesday night, said he does not believe a clean extension will pass.

“We’ll see … but, I don’t think the clean extension will pass,” he said.

After the meeting, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise suggested some “minor changes” could be made to the legislation to appease the holdouts but did not divulge specifics.

“FISA has been important for our country’s national security,” Scalise said. “We’ve put some important much needed reforms in place the last time it was up for reauthorization and what President Trump has asked is that now we reauthorize it with those reforms in place, and that’s what we’re working to do. So, we’re having some final conversations. Not all of our members are quite there yet.”

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas said several Republicans “want to see further reforms” to the program.

“We feel like we need improvements. Obviously, we want greater protections for citizens with respect to warrants,” he said. “We want to make sure that there’s greater penalties, for example, for government officials who abuse their authority and power.”

Scalise said Ratcliffe explained to Republicans how FISA is being “used in the real world to stop bad things from happening.”

As he was leaving, Ratcliffe said the meeting “went great.”

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