Good Monday evening. In this edition: U.S. begins Strait of Hormuz blockade; Trump clashes with Pope Leo over Iran; and Swalwell and Gonzales resign amid sexual misconduct allegations.
Plus, Orban, WSJ and Artemis II.
Iran War
The U.S. military began its blockade of Iranian ports in the Strait of Hormuz, the critical waterway for oil transport, after marathon negotiations with the country's representatives over the weekend failed to produce a deal.
"We can't let a country blackmail or extort the world, because that's what they're doing," President Trump told reporters outside the Oval Office. "They're really blackmailing the world. We're not going to let that happen."
The president said he hoped the blockade would either bring the Iranians back to the table or reopen the strait for oil transport, and threatened to attack any Iranian ship that tried to interfere.
"Warning: If any of these ships come anywhere close to our BLOCKADE, they will be immediately ELIMINATED, using the same system of kill that we use against the drug dealers on boats at Sea. It is quick and brutal," he wrote on Truth Social.
Vice President JD Vance, who led the negotiations in Islamabad along with special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, said they were unable to get the Iranians to "accept our terms" after 21 hours of talks.
"I think we were quite flexible, quite accommodating," he told reporters Saturday night. "Unfortunately, we weren't able to make any headway."
"We leave here with a very simple proposal: a method of understanding that is our final and best offer," he added. "We'll see if the Iranians accept it."
President Trump told reporters Monday that Iran had reached out for another round of negotiations, but did not say whether the U.S. would participate, adding he didn't care whether a deal is ultimately reached.
"We've been called by the other side," he told reporters. "They'd like to make a deal very badly."
The president confirmed the biggest sticking point was the country's nuclear ambitions.
"Iran will not have a nuclear weapon," he said. "We agreed to a lot of things, but they didn't agree to that, and I think they will agree to it. I'm almost sure of it. In fact, I am sure of it. If they don't agree, there's no deal. There'll never be a deal."
He also said the U.S. would acquire the uranium already enriched by Iran one way or another.
"We're going to get the dust back. We'll get it back," he said. "Either we'll get it back from them or we'll take it."
President Trump said "other countries" had agreed to help the U.S. blockade the strait but declined to name any.
"We don't need other countries, frankly. But they've offered their services," he said. "We'll let it be known, probably tomorrow."
Israel, which is pushing ahead with an air and ground offensive in Lebanon, said it supported the blockade but did not say whether it would help enforce it.
No other U.S. allies have expressed support for the blockade, and the U.K. and Australia ruled out helping.
President Trump lashed out against Pope Leo XIV, the first American pontiff, over his criticism of the Iran war, calling him "WEAK on Crime" and "terrible on Foreign Policy."
"I don't want a Pope who criticizes the President of the United States because I'm doing exactly what I was elected, IN A LANDSLIDE, to do, setting Record Low Numbers in Crime, and creating the Greatest Stock Market in History," he wrote in a lengthy screed on Truth Social Sunday night.
"Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician. It's hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic Church!"
Pope Leo — who has become increasingly vocal in his opposition to the war and called the president's threat to obliterate Iranian civilization "truly unacceptable" — responded to the president by saying he had "no fear" of speaking out against the administration.
"We are not politicians, we don't deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the gospel, as a peacemaker."
President Trump then doubled down on his criticism and refused to apologize as some American Catholic leaders called on him to do.
"No, I don't because Pope Leo said things that are wrong," he said when asked if the pope deserved an apology. "He was very much against what I'm doing with regard to Iran — and you cannot have a nuclear Iran. Pope Leo would not be happy with the end result."
"I think he's weak on crime and other things," he added. "He went public, I'm just responding to Pope Leo."
President Trump also sought to explain another controversial social media post that drew swift backlash from across the political spectrum, including the religious right: an AI-generated image depicting him as Jesus.
"I thought it was me as a doctor, and had to do with Red Cross, as a Red Cross worker, which we support," he told reporters about the post, which has since been deleted from his account.
The president brushed aside any criticism, saying "only the fake news" would have interpreted the image as an attempt to portray himself as Christ.
"It's supposed to be me as a doctor, making people better," he said. "And I do make people better. I make people a lot better."
Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA) announced he will resign from Congress, a day after a flood of sexual misconduct allegations forced him to end his bid for California governor.
"I am deeply sorry to my family, staff, and constituents for the mistakes in judgment I've made in my past. I will fight the serious, false allegation made against me. However, I must take responsibility and ownership for the mistakes I did make," he wrote in a statement.
The House Ethics Committeeopened an investigation into the allegations earlier in the day, and lawmakers in both parties had called on him to either resign or be expelled from the chamber.
"I am aware of efforts to bring an immediate expulsion vote against me and other members," Rep. Swalwell wrote. "Expelling anyone in Congress without due process, within days of an allegation being made, is wrong. But it's also wrong for my constituents to have me distracted from my duties. Therefore, I plan to resign my seat in Congress."
The San Francisco Chroniclereported Friday that an ex-staffer accused the congressman of sexually assaulting her. A CNN report later that day revealed four women who accused him of sexual misconduct, including a former staffer who said he raped her.
The congressman denies the allegations but was forced to suspend his campaign after party leaders, his top backers, and staffers fled his campaign en masse.
Rep. Swalwell was consolidating support in the crowded primary to succeed California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) and was increasingly seen as the frontrunner when the allegations were made public.
His exit injects fresh uncertainty into the June 2 primary, in which the top two vote-getters, regardless of party, advance to the November general election.
Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-TX) also announced he would resign from Congress, weeks after admitting to an affair with a staffer.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, a close ally of President Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin, accepted defeat in the nation's elections Sunday, conceding to center-right leader Péter Magyar of the Tisza Party. Mr. Orbán and his far-right party, Fidesz, have led Hungary for the past 16 years in what the prime minister has called an "illiberal democracy." President Trump had sought to boost his reelection campaign and dispatched Vice President JD Vance to campaign with the prime minister last week. Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Roger Wicker (R-MS) praised the outcome of the election as a firm vote for freedom and democracy. "The freedom-loving people of Hungary have voted decisively in favor of democracy and the rule of law," he wrote on social media. "They've rejected the malign influence of Vladimir Putin, the world's most malicious dictator, and decided their own future."
A federal judge in Florida dismissed President Trump's libel suit against the Wall Street Journal and its owner, Rupert Murdoch. President Trump sued in July for $10 billion after the newspaper published a drawing of a naked woman it alleged the president had gifted to Jeffrey Epstein for his birthday in 2003. The president indicated on Truth Social his intention to refile the lawsuit with additional evidence. "Our powerful case against The Wall Street Journal, and other defendants, was asked to be re-filed by the Judge," he wrote. "It is not a termination, it is a suggested re-filing, and we will be, as per the Order, re-filing an updated lawsuit on or before April 27th."
NASA's Artemis II lunar flyby mission ended Friday evening with its four crew members splashing down off the coast of San Diego. Despite concerns about potential problems with the Orion spacecraft's heat shield, the crew returned safely to Earth, where the USS John P. Murtha retrieved them. With Artemis II complete, NASA now turns its attention to the upcoming Artemis III mission, which will test a new lunar lander, and the tentative return of humans to the moon in 2028 with Artemis IV. "Artemis II is the opening act in America's return to the moon," NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a post-splashdown news conference Friday night. "The next crew will begin planning to play their part as we return to the lunar surface, we build the base, and we never give up the moon again."
For your radar…
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (NY) and other members of Congress hold a Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday. Watch LIVE on C-SPAN3 at 10:30am ET.
