What we're covering
• Cabinet meeting: President Donald Trump held the 11th Cabinet meeting of his second term today, speaking extensively about the war in Iran. Trump also addressed the ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown, the Kennedy Center renaming, his decision to cast a mail-in ballot and a new action to support farmers.
• Capitol Hill: Senators are still at an impasse over a deal to fund DHS and alleviate long lines at airports. As part of a deal, Trump is pushing for the Senate to pass the SAVE America Act, which would add strict new ID and proof-of-citizenship requirements for voting.
• Approval rating: Two new polls place Trump’s overall presidential approval rating in the high 30s, deeply underwater but little changed since February. There is also broad opposition to the Iran war, the polls show.
What Trump and top officials said about the Iran war in today’s Cabinet meeting
President Donald Trump and top officials discussed the war with Iran at length during today’s Cabinet meeting.
Trump cast doubt on the prospect of a peace deal with Tehran. The president claimed the onus was on Iran to come to the table and end the fighting. “In the meantime, we’ll just keep blowing them away unimpeded, unstopped,” he said.
He later added that he doesn’t care about reaching a deal with Iran as the US signals it is prepared to continue military operations.
Meanwhile, the president’s special envoy Steve Witkoff confirmed that the US has been negotiating with Iran through diplomatic channels with Pakistan.
Here’s what else was said about the war:
- Trump urged Iran to permanently abandon its nuclear ambitions, and said that they now have a chance to “chart a new path forward.”
- Trump declined to say whether the US would move to secure uranium in Iran, dismissing the question as “ridiculous” .
- Witkoff said Iranian officials insisted they had a right to enrich uranium during talks held before the war, leading US officials to conclude they were unwilling to abandon their nuclear ambitions.
- Trump criticized German leaders for not supporting the war in Iran and said comments that it was not their war were “inappropriate” given that the US has backed allies in the conflict in Ukraine.
- Trump said he wasn’t sure if he would hold Iran to a Friday deadline he set to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.
- Trump suggested that taking over Iran’s oil supply is “an option.” He said a resolution in Iran could look like Venezuela.
- Trump downplayed rising gas prices and impacts to the stock market as a result of the war and said that it “hasn’t been nearly as severe as I thought.”
- Trump indicated he’s not yet ready to push for a suspension of the federal gas tax but that it remains an option as his administration tries to combat surging energy prices.
- Trump said the mystery “present” he told reporters earlier this week that Iran had given to the US as part of negotiations was 10 “boats of oil” that successfully crossed the Strait of Hormuz.
- Vice President JD Vance argued that the war has been a resounding success, contending that the offensive has opened up new pathways for ensuring the regime cannot obtain a nuclear weapon.
CNN’s Adam Cancryn, Alejandra Jaramillo, Betsy Klein and Christian Sierra contributed to this report.
US interior secretary says Venezuelans may erect Trump statue as “liberator”
Interior Secretary Doug Burgum said today that some in Venezuela are considering honoring President Donald Trump with a statue, comparing him to independence leader Simón Bolívar.
“I literally think they’re going to put up a statue to President Trump,” Burgum said. “And that’s not a political statement.”
“I hope so, that would be a great honor” Trump interrupted.
“Because they view President Trump like Simón Bolívar, he’s the liberator of a country,” Burgum added. There is a statue of Bolívar near the Department of Interior in Washington, DC.
Burgum made the remarks during the president’s 11th Cabinet meeting, discussing recent developments in US-Venezuela relations following the US military operation that resulted in the capture of former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, before Trump interjected again.
“Forget that, when are they going to do the statue,” Trump asked.
Trump on why he voted using a mail-in ballot: "Because I'm president"
President Donald Trump, when asked today why he chose to cast a mail-in ballot in a special election this week in Florida, said it was “because I’m president of the United States.”
Trump has repeatedly questioned the veracity of voting by mail, claiming without evidence that it’s a significant source of election fraud.
On Monday, Trump said at a roundtable on crime in Memphis, “Mail-in voting means mail-in cheating.”
However, in his response to the question today, the president listed “exceptions” for voting by mail — including illness and travel — and stressed that he “was away, mostly in Washington, DC.”
CNN’s Molly English and Randi Kaye contributed to this report.
Trump says Kennedy Center renaming showed bipartisanship, even as a Democrat sues over it
President Donald Trump claimed today that his handpicked board of trustees’ vote to rename the Kennedy Center in his honor was a signal of bipartisanship, even as he faces a lawsuit alleging the board’s Democratic members were improperly excluded from the renaming vote.
“We’re fixing up the, what was the Kennedy Center. I was honored when the board changed the name a little bit. Actually, it shows that the Republicans and the Democrats, they work together. It’s really something – we work together,” Trump said at a Cabinet meeting.
Trump gutted the Kennedy Center’s board last year and installed loyalists, including his chief of staff Susie Wiles, Attorney General Pamela Bondi, and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick’s wife, Allison Lutnick, among others. The board also includes multiple Democrats, who serve in an ex-officio capacity designated by an act of Congress.
The vote to rename it the “Trump Kennedy Center” took place at a board meeting in December that is now at the center of a lawsuit from one of those ex-officio members, Rep. Joyce Beatty, a Democrat from Ohio.
Beatty has contended that she was prohibited from participating in the vote and that her line was muted when she attempted to express her opposition. She is now asking a federal judge to reject the renaming, arguing, “Congress established the Kennedy Center by law, and only Congress can change its name.”
CNN has reached out to Beatty for comment.
Trump says administration will announce new actions to support farmers tomorrow
President Donald Trump said his administration will announce tomorrow a “variety of actions” to support American farmers.
Trump also criticized a Supreme Court ruling that found he violated federal law when he unilaterally imposed sweeping tariffs worldwide.
He called the ruling “foolish,” adding, “It’s one of those things. It’s a terrible, terrible, horrible mistake they made, but it’s okay, because we have another method that’s just as good. We’ll use the other method.”
Anxiety spikes in both parties as DHS deal sputters
The latest push to reopen the Department of Homeland Security is sputtering on Capitol Hill, with frustrations so high that some rank-and-file lawmakers in both parties are privately meeting on their own to try to salvage talks.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that it felt that talks were “going in circles” – signaling the nearly 40-day stalemate could go on for much longer. Congress is set to leave in a day for a two-week, Easter and Passover recess.
One person familiar said discussions among lawmakers are a direct result of the intense pressure they are feeling back home over the department shutdown, which has caused hours-long security lines at airports nationwide.
On Tuesday, Senate GOP leaders believed they’d found a compromise that would reopen DHS by this weekend. But that plan — which would withhold money for federal immigration enforcement but without any policy changes — has fallen flat in both parties.
GOP Sen. Katie Britt of Alabama, a leading Senate negotiator, huddled with several House Democratic centrists on Wednesday morning in a frantic attempt to salvage talks and keep both parties at the table for a deal, according to multiple people familiar with the meeting.
Britt, as she left the meeting, told reporters that negotiators “have to” get a deal done this week, adding: “There’s deals on the table.”
Read more about lawmakers’ attempt to reach a deal to reopen DHS here.
Trump renews push to end filibuster amid GOP resistance
President Donald Trump called again on Senate Republicans to eliminate the legislative filibuster, escalating pressure on his party as lawmakers remain divided over the long-standing rule.
“When is “enough, enough” for our Republican Senators. There comes a time when you must do what should have been done a long time ago, and something which the Lunatic Democrats will do on day one, if they ever get the chance. TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER, and get our airports, and everything else, moving again,” Trump wrote in a social media post today.
“Also, add the complete, all five items, SAVE AMERICA ACT items. Go for the Gold!!!”
The president then wrote in all caps in a separate post: “TERMINATE THE FILIBUSTER!”
Trump has repeatedly urged Senate Republicans to abolish the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation, arguing doing so is necessary to bypass gridlock and push through his key priorities, particularly as the government faces ongoing disruptions such as the partial government shutdown.
Senate Republican leaders, including Majority Leader John Thune, have expressed concern about the long-term implications of eliminating the rule, warning it could backfire if Democrats regain control of the chamber. Sen. Thom Tillis recently criticized efforts to scrap the filibuster to pass the SAVE America Act, calling it a “foolish and lazy idea” and cautioning that such a move could ultimately benefit Democrats in the future.
Trump's approval rating stands in the 30s in new polls
Two new polls place President Donald Trump’s overall presidential approval rating in the high 30s, deeply underwater but little changed since February.
That comes from a Quinnipiac University poll and an AP-NORC poll yesterday. Meantime, a new Reuters/Ipsos survey found a slight dip in his ratings.
As of Wednesday afternoon, CNN’s Poll of Polls average puts Trump’s approval rating among US adults at 38%, with 60% disapproving – similar to his standing in previous averages this year.
Trump’s approval rating for handling foreign policy stands at 34% in the AP-NORC survey, a low ebb for the president in its polling since he returned to office last year, with more than half saying they have little or no trust in him to make the right decisions about the use of military force outside the US.
Registered voters in the Quinnipiac poll say, 42% to 35%, that the war with Iran will make the world less safe, not safer, with independent voters saying by a roughly 2-to-1 margin that the war will make the world less safe. Just under half of registered voters, 46%, say that the price of gasoline has been a somewhat or very serious problem for them lately, with 53% saying it hasn’t been a serious problem.
Trump will hold his 11th Cabinet meeting today
President Donald Trump will hold a Cabinet meeting today, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. It is the 11th of his second term.
The president last held a Cabinet meeting on January 29, which lasted approximately one hour and 20 minutes.
It comes as the White House is working to arrange a meeting in Pakistan this weekend to discuss an off-ramp to the war with Iran, two Trump administration officials told CNN. The president is also contending with high gas prices because of the war and a hold-up in Congress on how to fund the Department of Homeland Security.
