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.
Secretary of Defense Peter Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs Of Staff Gen. Dan Caine speak at a briefing at the Pentagon, March 13, 2026. (ABC News)
(WASHINGTON) — Top Pentagon officials on Friday pledged to combat Iran’s efforts to turn the Strait of Hormuz into a dangerous choke point for the world’s oil supply as the critical waterway stands out as a key piece of terrain to control in the war.
Iran has said it will continue to seek to shut down the key waterway, which threatens the safe passage of oil tankers and could lead to devastating effects on fuel prices and other parts of the market. The Strait of Hormuz is a critical and narrow waterway through which about 20% of the world’s oil flows.
“It’s something we’re dealing with, we have been dealing with it, and [you] don’t need to worry about it,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters at a Pentagon briefing, asserting the U.S. won’t allow the strait to “remain contested.”
“The only thing prohibiting transit in the strait right now is Iran shooting at shipping. It is open for transit should Iran not do that. Now, there’s a reason why we chose as one of our primary objectives to destroy the navy. We understood the ability to interdict shipping is something Iran has done for 40 years. It’s key terrain,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth said the Pentagon has options for the strait but did not provide detail on how it would be reopened. U.S. forces continue a relentless barrage of attacks on Iranian missile and drone position, as well as other tactical pain points the regime needs to threaten the strait.
Hegseth noted that Friday is set to see the largest volume of strikes against Iran so far. Some 15,000 targets have been attacked by the U.S. and Israel.
President Donald Trump said he would consider U.S. Navy escorts of commercial ships to help ease an escalating crisis of the world’s oil supply, but remained noncommittal on Friday.
“Well, we would do it if we needed to,” Trump told Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade in a radio interview. “But, you know, hopefully things are going to go very well. We’re going to see what happens.”
The Strait of Hormuz is only about 30 miles wide and just 21 miles wide at its narrowest point. Iran has mines that it can use to litter the strait, which would be an enormously complicated obstacle for ships in the area that are also vulnerable to Iranian missile and drone attacks.
Hegseth told reporters there’s “no clear evidence” Iran has yet placed any mines.
Ships are also vulnerable to Iranian missile and drone attacks. Several commercial ships have been attacked in recent days, both in the strait and Persian Gulf.
While the U.S. develops plans for the strait, Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine said the focus continues to be strikes — some of the heaviest so far — against missile and drone platforms as well as factories to cripple Iran’s ability to manufacture new weapons.
Escorting tankers through the strait would be a complex operation, one that the U.S. military doesn’t execute often at such a high level.
“It’s a tactically complex environment,” Caine told reporters Friday when asked about the timetable for possible U.S. Navy escorts. “Before I think we want to take anything through there at scale, we want to make sure that we do the work pursuant to our current military objectives to do, to do that safely and smartly. So, we’re continuing to develop options.”
The closest comparison is from December 2023 through mid-2025, when the U.S. Navy and partner forces, including the United Kingdom and France, escorted commercial vessels through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden to shield them from Houthi drone and missile attacks.
The last time the U.S. Navy escorted ships through the Strait of Hormuz was in 1987 and 1988, during the so-called “Tanker War,” when Washington launched convoy operations to shield oil tankers caught in the maritime spillover of the decade-long Iran-Iraq conflict.
At least 140 service members have been wounded with the war as it approaches its second week. Thirteen service members have died. Six soldiers were killed by an Iranian drone strike at a U.S. tactical operations center in Kuwait, one was killed by an Iranian strike at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia, and six service members were killed when their refueling aircraft went down in friendly airspace in western Iraq.
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler contributed to this report.
President Donald Trump speaks as U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (C) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine look on. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump on Monday called a proposal to end the war with Iran a “significant step” but “not good enough” to persuade him to end his military campaign.
“They are negotiating now, and they have made a very significant step,” Trump said to reporters as he attended the annual White House Easter Egg Roll. “We’ll see what happens.”
It was not immediately clear which proposal Trump was referring to. The president had touted ongoing negotiations with more “moderate” parties but tensions ramped up over the weekend after the downing of a U.S. fighter plane.
According to a U.S. official and another person close to the ongoing talks, mediators are attempting broker a 45-day ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran ahead of Trump’s latest deadline, which calls for Iran to fully open the Strait of Hormuz by 8 p.m. ET on Tuesday or face attacks on bridges and energy infrastructure.
Iran signaled it would not accept the mediators’ proposal on Monday, responding instead with its own 10-point plan, which a U.S. official described as maximalist.
In the past, Iran has said it wants a permanent commitment from the U.S. to end the attacks rather than a shorter-term ceasefire.
Trump has moved the deadline several times citing progress in ongoing negotiations only to renew the threat of military destruction once again.
Both sources downplayed expectations that a deal could be reached in time, saying that so far Iran has refused to cede what it views as its main leverage in the negotiations: control over the Strait of Hormuz and its stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
“We are obliterating their country. And I hate to do it, but we’re obliterating and they just don’t want to say ‘uncle.’ They don’t want to cry, as the expression goes, ‘uncle.’ But they will,” Trump said. “And if they don’t, they’ll have no bridges, they’ll have no power plants, they’ll have no anything.”
But the president also seemed to acknowledge that the conflict was unpopular domestically.
“Unfortunately, the American people would like to see us come home,” he said.
Earlier on Monday, a White House official said the proposal was just “one of many ideas” and indicated that the president had not signed off on it.
Mediators are floating confidence-building measures aimed at bringing both sides closer to an agreement, sources say, and stressing to the Iranian regime that even though Trump has previously moved back deadlines he has set, Tehran would likely need to signal a willingness to make major concessions in order to buy more time for negotiations to play out.
In their public messaging, Iranian leaders have signaled little room for compromise, issuing demands the U.S. views as maximalist.
Mediators have floated the idea that perhaps access to the Strait of Hormuz and the elimination of Iran’s uranium stockpile could be fully resolved after a ceasefire is reached. However, a U.S. official said it appeared highly unlikely the Trump administration could be convinced to accept those terms–particularly on the Strait of Hormuz.
Rep. Jeff Hurd arrives for the House Republican Conference caucus meeting at the Capitol, May 6, 2025. (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump made a stunning reversal Friday by again backing a Colorado House Republican for reelection a month after he publicly scorned him and endorsed his opponent.
In a lengthy social media post, Trump said he would no longer back Hope Scheppelman’s bid in the Republican primary for Rep. Jeff Hurd’s seat in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, after she accepted an offer to join his administration.
“Together with them, we decided that Congressman Jeff Hurd, of Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District, should in no way, shape, or form, be impeded from winning the District in that the Democrat alternative is a DISASTER for our Country,” he said in his social media post.
In February, Trump withdrew his endorsement of Hurd, lashing out against him in a social media post after he voted to rebuke the president’s tariffs on Canada.
“Hurd is one of a small number of Legislators who have let me and our Country down,” Trump said in the February social media post.
In Friday’s announcement, the president changed his mind.
“Every true MAGA supporter and Republican, if they truly care about saving our Country, will do everything in their power to unify together, and defeat the Crazed Radical Left Democrats this November,” he said.
The district has been red since 2011, and has traditionally been seen as a strong Republican area.
Trump said he spoke with Scheppelman, a Navy veteran and nurse, and her husband, about his decision and offered both of them positions in his administration in a “capacity to be determined.”
“Hope and Steven are wonderful and patriotic Veterans of our U.S. Navy, and loyal supporters of our Historic MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN Movement,” Trump said in the post.
Hurd thanked Trump for the endorsement in an X post Friday.
“The President and I share the same goals: securing the border, American energy dominance, and helping working families,” he said.
Scheppelman, whose social media pages feature a picture of her and Trump posing with thumbs-up signs, said in a statement on X that she would suspend her campaign given Trump’s request.
She said Hurd “now has the opportunity to correct his naive voting record and support President Trump, and our slim Republican majority in the U.S. House, in our shared battle to save the country we love.”
“If he does not, I will run again in 2028 and defeat [Hurd] in order to give the citizens of Colorado’s 3rd district, and all of America, the representation we deserve,” Scheppelman added.
Trump’s involvement a welcome development for House Republicans and Speaker Mike Johnson protecting a historically small majority this fall.
By backing Hurd, the GOP avoids another contentious primary in a long red district, as the incumbent is running unopposed.
Alex Kelloff, a Democratic candidate running for the House seat, responded to the president’s announcement Friday on X.
“Trump is worried we’re going to win this seat, a testament to all the work our campaign has been doing the last 11 months,” he said.
The Colorado primary is set for June 30.
-ABC News’ Benjamin Siegel contributed to this report.
