Trump says ‘I could’ get Abrego Garcia back from El Salvador
John McDonnell/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — In an exclusive interview with ABC News to mark his 100th day in office, President Donald Trump on Tuesday said he “could” secure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland man his administration said in court was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
“Now the Supreme Court has upheld an order that you must return him to the– facilitate his return to the United States. What are you doing to comply?” ABC News anchor and Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran asked Trump in the Oval Office.
“Well, the lawyer that said it was a mistake was here a long time, was not appointed by us– should not have said that, should not have said that,” Trump argued. The president then said that Abrego Garcia is a member of the criminal MS-13 gang and “is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland.” Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have maintained he’s not MS-13 and has not been charged with or convicted of a crime.
“I’m not saying he’s a good guy. It’s about the rule of law. The order from the Supreme Court stands, sir,” Moran told the president.
“He came into our country illegally,” Trump maintained.
“You could get him back. There’s a phone on this desk,” Moran told Trump, pointing to the phone on the Resolute Desk.
“I could,” Trump conceded.
“You could pick it up, and with all–” Moran began to say.
“I could,” Trump said again.
“–the power of the presidency, you could call up the president of El Salvador and say, ‘Send him back right now,’” Moran explained.
“And if he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that,” Trump offered, before saying, “I’m not the one making this decision.”
“You’re the president,” Moran told him.
“I– no, no, no, no. If– follow the law. You want me to follow the law. If I were the president that just wanted to do anything, I’d probably keep him right where he is—” Trump said.
“The Supreme Court says what the law is,” Moran said.
Trump replied, referencing immigration, saying he “was elected to take care of a problem” that was an “unforced error that was made by a very incompetent man,” – an apparent jab at President Joe Biden.
(LITTLE ROCK, Ark.) — Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders and the state’s entire GOP congressional delegation are urging President Donald Trump to reconsider after the Federal Emergency Management denied the state’s request for federal disaster relief following a series of deadly storms last month.
After severe storms hit the state in mid-March, Sanders applied for disaster relief through FEMA, under what’s known as a major disaster declaration. The request was denied.
“As Governor Sanders noted in her request, these storms caused catastrophic damage across the state, resulting in disastrous amounts of debris, widespread destruction to homes and businesses, the deaths of three Arkansans, and injuries to many more,” the state’s two Republican senators and four GOP House members wrote in an April 21 letter to Trump. “Given the cumulative impact and sheer magnitude of destruction from these severe weather events, federal assistance is vital to ensure that state and local communities have the capabilities needed to rebuild.”
This isn’t the first time FEMA has denied state requests recently. Earlier this month, Democratic Gov. Bob Ferguson, of Washington, said FEMA had denied his state’s application for federal disaster relief stemming from a “bomb cyclone” that slammed the state last November.
“This is another troubling example of the federal government withholding funding,” Ferguson said in a statement. “Washington communities have been waiting for months for the resources they need to fully recover from last winter’s devastating storms, and this decision will cause further delay. We will appeal.”
FEMA also denied a request from North Carolina’s Democratic Gov. Josh Stein to extend 100% federal funding for debris removal related to last fall’s devastating Hurricane Helene beyond an initial 180-day timeline.
However, the situation in Arkansas marks the first time that Republicans have publicly pushed back on a denial of FEMA relief requests.
Sanders served as the White House press secretary during Trump’s first term.
ABC News has requested comment from FEMA about why Arkansas’ request was denied.
During a visit in January to parts of North Carolina still left battered by Helene, Trump sharply criticized FEMA and suggested states could manage disaster relief better than the federal government.
“You want to use your state to fix it and not waste time calling FEMA,” he said. “And then FEMA gets here and they don’t know the area. They’ve never been to the area, and they want to give you rules that you’ve never heard about. They want to bring people that aren’t as good as the people you already have. And FEMA has turned out to be a disaster.”
In January, Trump issued an executive order creating a review council to examine the agency and make recommendations for overhauling it.
(WASHINGTON) — White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett defended President Donald Trump’s tariffs on Sunday, refuting the idea they will cost American consumers more.
“So, the fact is, the countries are angry and retaliating and, by the way, coming to the table. I got a report from the [U.S. Trade Representative] last night that more than 50 countries have reached out to the president to begin a negotiation. But they’re doing that because they understand that they bear a lot of the tariff. And so, I don’t think that you’re going to see a big effect on the consumer in the U.S. because I do think that the reason why we have a persistent, long-run trade deficit these people have very inelastic supply. They’ve been dumping goods into the country in order to create jobs, say, in China,” Hassett told ABC News’ “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Trump announced tariffs on nearly all of the U.S.’s trading partners on Wednesday. Trump’s policy includes a 10% tariff on all imports, as well larger tariffs on some individual countries. The announcement was met with an immediate and ongoing plunge in global markets as well as various countries levying retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. Democratic lawmakers and critics of Trump’s economic policy raised alarms about a potential recession and adverse effects on the U.S.’s relationship with allies.
The universal 10% tariffs went into effect on Saturday, while tariffs on individual countries are set to go into effect on Wednesday.
Former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers disagreed with Hassett’s contention that tariffs will cause a drop in prices for American consumers.
“This is the biggest self-inflicted wound we’ve put on our economy in history. We are increasing inflation because the prices are higher because of the tariffs. That gives people less spending power. That means fewer jobs,” Summers said after Hassett’s interview. “Markets are looking at all of that. And they think companies are going to be worth $5 trillion less than they thought before these tariffs started. And that’s just the loss to companies. If you add in the loss to consumers, a reasonable estimate would probably be something like $30 trillion.”
Here are other highlights from Hassett and Summers’ interviews:
Hassett on Trump using the market crash to influence the Fed Stephanopoulos: Right, but you also — he also said prices were going to come down and he just conceded the prices are going to go up. Also on Truth Social, the president retweeted a post that said the market drop was part of a deliberate strategy to force the Fed to lower interest rates. Is that the president’s strategy? If not, why did he post it?
Hassett: Yeah, that, you know, the bottom line is the president has been talking about tariffs for 40 years and this is like been absolutely the policy that he’s focused on in the campaign and throughout his political career. And you know, the cyclical cycle of the Fed, it comes and goes. That’s a different matter. But this is President Trump’s desired policy. He’s been arguing for it ever since. I think he was on “The View” 30, 40 years ago, and it’s exactly — the baseline tariff is exactly what he — he put into the convention.
Stephanopoulos: But is it his strategy —
Hassett: So, this is not a surprise for anyone.
Stephanopoulos: Is it his strategy to force the Fed to lower interest rates, and that the market crash was part of that strategy?
Hassett: We understand the Fed is an independent agency. We respect the independence of the Fed. But the president’s allowed to have an opinion. The — absolutely, the president’s allowed to have an opinion but there’s not going to be any political coercion over the Fed, for sure.
Stephanopoulos: So — so that is his strategy? Tank the market so the Fed will lower interest rates?
Hassett: No, no, no.
Hassett on the lack of tariffs against Russia Stephanopoulos: Why did the president not include Russia on the list of countries who are facing tariffs?
Hassett: There’s obviously an ongoing negotiation with Russia and Ukraine, and I think the president made the decision not to conflate the two issues. It doesn’t mean that Russia, the fullest of time, is going to be treated wildly different than every other country, but Russia is one of the only countries, one of the few countries, that is not subject to these new tariffs, aren’t they? They’re in the middle of a negotiation, George, aren’t they?
Stephanopoulos: Well, I’m asking a different question: Why? And I just want to know why—
Hassett: Would you literally advise that you go in and put a whole bunch of new things on the table in the middle of a negotiation that affects so many American and Ukrainian and Russian lives.
Stephanopoulos: Negotiators do that. Negotiators do that all the time.
Hassett: No, no, that’s not appropriate to throw a new thing into these negotiations right in the middle of it. It’s just not.
Stephanopoulos: So you are conceding that Russia is not paying any new tariffs, unlike many of our allies, including Europe, Canada, Mexico.
Hassett: Russia is in the midst of negotiations over peace that affects, really, thousands and thousands of lives of people, and that’s what President Trump is focused on right now.
Summers on the stock market Stephanopoulos: If you’re advising American consumers, also American corporate leaders on where this is headed, how would you counsel them to prepare for all of this?
Summers: Look, I think there’s a very good chance there’s going to be more turbulence in markets. The two-day move we saw on Thursday and Friday was the fourth largest two-day move since the Second World War. The other three were the 1987 crash, the 2008 financial crisis, and the pandemic. So a drop of this magnitude signals that there’s likely to be trouble ahead. And people ought to just be very cautious.
But the risk is, of course, when all of us decide to be cautious, that can become a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Unless and until the president recognizes that this is a very serious error that is likely to have very adverse consequences, I think it’s likely to make things very difficult. I think people are right to hold off on making big new purchases, businesses are right to be cautious. People are right to want to hold cash. What we need is a reversal of these policies, and until we have a reversal, I think we’re going to have a real problem. This is a moment of testing for the president’s advisers. The intellectually honest ones know that this reflects presidential 40-year fixation, not any kind of proven economic theory.
(SANA’A, Yemen) — President Donald Trump announced he ordered the U.S. military to launch “decisive and powerful military action” against the Houthis in Yemen.
“They have waged an unrelenting campaign of piracy, violence, and terrorism against American, and other, ships, aircraft, and drones,” Trump posted on his social media platform Truth Social. “We will use overwhelming lethal force until we have achieved our objective.”
A U.S. official confirmed to ABC News that U.S. air and naval assets hit dozens of Houthi targets in Yemen, including missiles, radars and drone and air defense systems. The official characterized the attacks as an opening salvo against the Houthis and sends a strong message to Iran.
A spokesman for Yemen’s ministry of health said at least nine people have been killed in the strikes and another nine injured. He said most of the casualties were civilians, and the number of those killed and injured will be updated as rescue and recovery efforts continue.
The strikes are the largest and most significant military action that Trump has taken in his second term.
The Houthi attacks were carried out by fighter jets from the Harry S. Truman aircraft carrier, now in the northern Red Sea, as well as Air Force attack planes and armed drones launched from bases in the region, according to a source familiar with the plan.
Trump approved the plan on Friday, the source added.
The strikes Saturday are the result of several high-level White House meetings this week with Trump and top national security aides, including Vice President J.D. Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, national security adviser Mike Waltz, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Gen. Michael E. Kurilla.
The attacks could intensify in scope and scale depending on the Houthi reaction, a source familiar with the plan said.
The source stressed this is not expected to be a single day event and said that “this will be decisive.”
Earlier in March, the Houthis warned they would resume attacking shipping vessels if Israel’s blockade of aid in Gaza continued.
Trump also had a stark message for Iran, writing that its support for the Houthis must end “immediately.” The president redesignated the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organization via an executive order in first days in office.
In a message to the Houthis, Trump threatened that if the attacks don’t stop, then “hell will rain down upon you like nothing you have ever seen before.”
The Biden administration also conducted multiple strikes against the Houthis as they disrupted international shipping lanes in the Red Sea with attacks.
The last U.S. airstrike in Yemen against the Houthis occurred on Jan. 8, while former President Joe Biden was still in office, when a precision strike targeted two underground ammunition bunkers. There had been no other airstrikes since then partly because the Houthis stopped attacking ships during the ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.
Trump slammed his predecessor, writing, “Joe Biden’s response was pathetically weak, so the unrestrained Houthis just kept going.”
Since the October 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, the Houthis have launched more than 100 attacks on vessels in the Red Sea, causing disruptions to global trade through one of the busiest shipping lanes in the world. The Houthi rebels had initially framed their attacks as a way to pressure Israel to stop the war that was launched following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack. But as shippers began to avoid the regions of the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, the rebel strikes still continued.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
