President Donald Trump answered several questions from the media during a White House meeting with various ambassadors and nominees for the position of ambassador.
During the media segment, President Trump was questioned about the national security cabinet members use of the Signal app to discuss administration plans to open sea lanes and confront Houthi terrorists. President Trump noted the difficulty of secure communication that would be responsive and fast for the purposes of rapid discussion.
President Trump fully supports National Security Advisor Mike Waltz who is attributed with the problem of originating an inadvertent invitation to a journalist the chat group. Overall, there are several media questions about this specific topic and President Trump seemingly appreciates the line of inquiry but swats away attempt attack his cabinet.
President Trump has given remarks supporting National Security Advisor Mike Waltz during an interview with NBC.
WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump stood by his national security adviser, Mike Waltz, after The Atlantic’s editor-in-chief was accidentally added to a private, high-level chat on the messaging app Signal where military plans were being discussed.
“Michael Waltz has learned a lesson, and he’s a good man,” Trump said Tuesday in a phone interview with NBC News.
When asked what he was told about how Goldberg came to be added to the Signal chat, Trump said, “It was one of Michael’s people on the phone. A staffer had his number on there.”
Trump said Goldberg’s presence in the chat had “no impact at all” on the military operation.
The president expressed confidence in his team, saying he was not frustrated by the events leading up to The Atlantic’s story. The situation, Trump said, was “the only glitch in two months, and it turned out not to be a serious one.” (more)
The rest of the DC setup is transparently clear. (1) Goldberg held the story until the day before a long-scheduled Senate Intelligence Committee hearing. (2) The SSCI then used the hearing to blast the heads of the Trump administration intelligence silos on the issue of “classified” information in the text messages.
FBI Director Kash Patel, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard are among the witnesses who testify today before the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence (SSCI).
The SSCI is the center of the organization silo in Washington DC that permits the Intelligence Community to operate as a fourth branch of government. The hearing today on global and domestic threats was previously scheduled and ‘coincidentally’ now falls on the heels of revelations surrounding a group text chat about Trump administration operations in Yemen.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 10:00am ET, with livestream links below. The professional political left will be questioning the three cabinet members and will now focus on the national security threat created by Nat Sec Advisor Mike Waltz. WATCH BELOW:
According to Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic [SEE HERE], National Security Advisor Mike Waltz invited him to a group chat on the Signal app, where various Trump administration officials and cabinet members were discussing how to address the Houthi rebels in Yemen in advance of military airstrikes.
The media is having a field day with the story, and it does have multiple angles that will unfold in the next several days and weeks. Some media even claiming the story could take down Mike Waltz and/or Pete Hegseth due to the national security implications in the series of events [Politico Here]. However, I wouldn’t go that far at all.
(left, Mike Waltz – right, Pete Hegseth)
Why Mike Waltz would be texting an invite to Jeffrey Goldberg is an issue for later discussion. Generally, given the nature of these things it is not the principal who sets up the text network, usually a top aide or lead staff, which might indicate Waltz’s wife Julia Nesheiwat was involved [SEE WHY], but let’s put that aside.
Goldberg claims “details of war plans” were discussed in the group chat. Perhaps so, perhaps not. This specific part of the story is refuted by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. What was discussed and further shared and outlined by Breitbart News [SEE HERE] is a conversation about the strategic reasoning for the U.S. to directly attack the Houthi rebels in Yemen and reopen the sea lanes into and out of the Suez Canal.
The EU and Egypt are the primary beneficiaries of U.S. involvement toward stopping the Houthi terrorists from targeting ships in the region. Egypt manages the Suez Canal, and obviously there are some strategic U.S. benefits in the region from helping Egypt deal with the Houthi issue. Specifically, as President Trump seeks to have Egypt, Saudi Arabia and partners help solve the problem in Gaza.
Additionally, most of the shipping through the region is headed to the European Union through the canal. Reestablishing safe maritime flow of goods economically assists the EU more than any other region. Again, a point of leverage for the Trump administration as President Trump confronts the issues of EU support for a Ukraine conflict he is trying to resolve.
The Trump administration has filed notice to federal Judge James Boasberg that he is intruding into matters of which he has no competency or authority. [SEE HERE]
President Trump through the DOJ has filed notice with Boasberg that his inquiries into execution and enforcement of the Alien Enemies Act, and the deportation of criminal illegal aliens, is an intrusion into issues of national security. The U.S constitution and prior Supreme Court rulings affirm the Judicial Branch cannot interfere.
Additionally, the Trump administration informs the court that further intrusion into these Executive Branch matters creates a valid constitutional problem that rests solely on the shoulders of Judge Boasberg for creating it.
Following a cabinet meeting, President Donald Trump and the various cabinet members hold a public press availability to outline fraud discovered within the budgets and spending of the agencies they head. Several examples of demonstrable fraud were highlighted by DOGE team lead Elon Musk, the Small Business Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Dept of Energy, the Dept of Veterans Affairs and others.
President Trump explains that targeting the governmental spending “fraud” is critical as his administration focuses on growing the economy and bringing in major U.S. investment. Most of the spending being highlighted is fraud within the business model of U.S. politics. As noted by President Trump, it is not waste or abuse, it is simply fraud.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick outlines his expectations in advance of April 2nd, economic liberation day. HHS Secretary RFK Jr outlined how the DOGE team is helping to streamline the goals and objectives of the healthcare system. President Trump guides the MAGAnomic conversation around the various cabinet secretaries.
Dept of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem outlined how border patrol now has almost complete control over the U.S. border, and how the deportation operation is now removing record numbers of illegal aliens.
The Q&A session with media begins at 23:14 of the video above.
President Trump asks for Secretary Marco Rubio [24:57 of video] to review foreign policy and the Ukraine-Russia negotiations that are underway in Saudi Arabia. President Trump also notes the mid-east policy program is restarting the Abraham Accords to bring more nations into the alliance to stop regional hatred and create peace.
Around the 28:00 moment, President Trump notes the MAGAnomic policy initiatives that are starting to reduce prices. The price of energy input products is dropping rapidly along with gasoline and core food ingredients. Around 31:30 Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent outlines how Treasury is positioning policy to assist in economic growth.
At approximately the 34:00-minute mark, President Trump asks Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy about air safety and the goal of a new Air Traffic Control system. Secretary Duffy outlines the importance of DOGE to deliver solutions and assist with identifying problems.
Attorney General Pam Bondi who is primarily in position to keep the administration -and Trump himself- defended from Lawfare attacks, outlines how the DOJ is taking investigative referrals from the various cabinet members and will review identified instances of fraud for prosecution when warranted.
President Trump concludes the press availability by defending Elon Musk and his DOGE team from the attacks against him and his companies.
Tariffs simply work. This is no longer a debatable issue, and decades of Wall Street gaslighting collapses as the outcomes of tariffs generate visible economic benefits for all Americans.
South Korea-based Hyundai and President Donald Trump announced a $20 billion investment in US on-shoring on Monday, which includes a $5 billion steel plant in Louisiana,
The $5.8 billion Louisiana facility will be the car manufacturers’ first steel manufacturing facility in the US and will produce more than 2.7 million metric tons of steel a year and create more than 1,400 jobs. It will supply steel to auto plants in Alabama and Georgia, Trump said in remarks at the White House.
The announcement at the White House included President Trump, Hyundai Chairman Euisun Chung and Louisiana Governor Jeff Landry. WATCH:
The Hyundai announcement comes as the highly anticipated April 2nd “reciprocity tariffs” are scheduled to begin against all nations. For the EU this means an end to the 80-year-old Marshal plan of economic benefit.
Effective April 2, 2025, the U.S. will begin a process of reciprocal tariffs on imports from all nations with tariffs against U.S. products.
If a nation charges a 20% tariff on a U.S. good, in combination with a 20% non-tariff trade barrier, President Trump will calculate the financial impact and then reciprocate with a 40% tariff put on that nation’s goods being imported to the USA.
Globally, all nations are calculating how to deal with this issue. Hyundai’s best position calculations end up with this announcement.
President Trump makes an announcement of secondary tariffs targeting Venezuela by triggering a 25% tariff against any nation who purchases Venezuelan oil or gas.
China is the largest purchaser of Venezuelan oil, followed by the USA after Joe Biden changed the sanctions regime.
The tariff timeline is set to trigger on April 2nd, the same date as the reciprocal tariffs against all nations.
Truth Social – “President Donald J. Trump announced today that the United States of America will be putting what is known as a Secondary Tariff on the Country of Venezuela, for numerous reasons, including the fact that Venezuela has purposefully and deceitfully sent to the United States, undercover, tens of thousands of high level, and other, criminals, many of whom are murderers and people of a very violent nature.
Among the gangs they sent to the United States, is Tren de Aragua, which has been given the designation of “Foreign Terrorist Organization.” We are in the process of returning them to Venezuela — It is a big task! In addition, Venezuela has been very hostile to the United States and the Freedoms which we espouse.
Interim installed Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney has confirmed the snap election for Canada is scheduled for April 28, 2025.
Given that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre generally sealed his fate with criticism of President Trump while aligning himself with a surging patriotic-leftist movement, it is now expected that Mark Carney will win the election.
Politico has an article about the dynamic underway, and the following quotes are noteworthy:
CANADA – […] Trump has even taken credit for turning the Liberals’ fortunes around.
“Before I got involved and totally changed the election — which I don’t care about, probably, it’s our advantage, actually — but the Conservative was leading against, I call him Governor Trudeau. The conservative was leading by 35 points,” he said Friday, while exaggerating the polls.
“I think Canada is a place, like a lot of other places, if you have a good candidate, the candidate is going to work,” Trump said.
[…] Canadians have responded to Trump’s intimidation tactics with an outburst of patriotism. They are canceling spring break plans, buying made-in-Canada products, damaging Teslas and booing “The Star Spangled Banner” at professional sporting events.
Yesterday, Sunday night, the U.S technical delegation met with representatives from Ukraine to get deeper into specifics of what Ukraine wants for a ceasefire. The meetings are taking place in Saudi Arabia.
The Ukrainian delegation was led by Defense Minister Rustem Umerov. Heorhii Tykhyi, foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Friday the Ukrainian and American sides were due “to clarify the modalities, the nuances of possible different ceasefire regimes, how to monitor them, how to control them, in general, what is included in their scope”.
Following the meeting with the Ukrainian delegation who, together with elements of the CIA/EU and NATO – visibly appear to hold a desire to continue the war (and funding therein), the U.S delegation is scheduled to meet with their Russian counterparts today (Monday).
SAUDI ARABIA – […] Trump said on Saturday that efforts to stop further escalation in the Ukraine-Russia conflict were “somewhat under control”. The U.S. hopes to reach a broad ceasefire within weeks, targeting a truce agreement by April 20, Bloomberg News reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the planning.
Russian and U.S. experts meeting in Saudi Arabia on Monday are due to discuss ways to ensure the safety of shipping in the Black Sea, the Kremlin has said.
Despite all the diplomatic activity, Russia and Ukraine have both reported continued strikes, while Russian forces have also continued to advance slowly in eastern Ukraine, a region Moscow claims to have annexed. (read more)
As soon as details can be worked out, hopefully sooner rather than later, President Trump can then schedule a face-to-face meeting with the unelected leader of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
