May 16, 2025 - Trump Middle East trip and presidency news

Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

Yousif al-Obaidli, right, the director-general of the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, accompanies US President Donald Trump on a tour of the mosque in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

President Donald Trump returned from a whirlwind trip to the Middle East with investment deals in hand, a new bond with Syria forged, but still dogged by the familiar conflicts that have long hovered over the region.

Here’s the some takeaways:

Read more takeaways from Trump’s Middle East trip here.

Members of Panama's National Aeronaval Service police stand outside a hotel in Panama City, where migrants from Asia and the Middle East are housed after being deported from the US, on February 18.

A federal appeals court on Friday refused to let the Trump administration resume deporting migrants to countries other than their own without prior notice or the opportunity to seek protection from persecution or torture.

The US First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the government’s request to pause a lower court ruling halting the policy – a decision that comes amid growing alarm over reported plans to send migrants to Libya, a country widely criticized for mistreatment of detainees and ongoing civil unrest.

The appellate panel raised several “concerns” about allowing the Trump administration to restart the policy, among them “the irreparable harm that will result from wrongful removals in this context”

In March, US District Judge Brian Murphy blocked the Trump administration from deporting migrants to third countries without prior written notice and a chance to contest the removal.

CNN previously reported the Trump administration was considering sending migrants to Libya and Rwanda. Murphy said that reported plans to deport individuals to Libya or Saudi Arabia would clearly violate his earlier order. Immigrant advocacy groups filed an emergency motion to block the removal of migrants to Libya earlier this month, citing media reports and accounts from attorneys with clients believed to be manifested for a deportation flight to Libya.

Libya has denied any agreement to accept deportees. Earlier this year, the US deported hundreds of Asian migrants to Panama.

Federal employees rally, organized by the National Treasury Employees Union to voice concerns about the mass firing of federal workers, outside of the Kluczynski Federal Building in Chicago on March 19.

A federal appeals court on tonight revived an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that would weaken federal employee unions at several agencies, lifting a lower court’s block on the directive’s implementation at multiple targeted agencies.

The 2-1 order from the DC US Circuit Court of Appeals said that the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU) had not shown that it would be irreparably harmed without a court order blocking the executive order. The panel’s majority — made up of a President George H.W. Bush appointee and a Trump appointee — said the harms alleged by the union were “speculative,” in part, because the Trump administration had directed agencies not to terminate collective bargaining agreements before litigation over the order concluded.

A President Joe Biden appointee who dissented from the appellate decision said that self-imposed restriction showed the Trump administration would not be harmed if the preliminary injunction issued by the district judge was left in place.

The NTEU represents employees participating in unions at multiple agencies that would be impacted by Trump’s order, including the Department of Treasury, Department of Energy, Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency, among others.

Employees at other agencies covered by Trump’s order have also sued with cases that are ongoing. They include a challenge from a union representing State Department employees that won a preliminary injunction from a district court judge this week.

James Comey speaks onstage in New York City, on May 30, 2023.

US Secret Service agents interviewed former FBI Director James Comey today at their Washington, DC, field office, according to law enforcement sources.

Comey was interviewed by agents investigating a social media post he posted yesterday showing shells in the sand on a beach spelling out “86 47,” which has become a popular social media code for removing Trump from the presidency.

It was expected that Comey will be asked if he intended the message as a threat, or to inspire others who might consider an act of violence against Trump, the source said. Ultimately, a decision on whether the case is chargeable as a threat against the president may lie with the US attorney in Washington.

Comey was not in custody and appeared voluntarily, a source said.

Trump and fellow Republicans have attacked Comey for the post, demanding an investigation.

The end result could be little more than a stern warning for Comey. Legal experts say prosecuting Comey may be fruitless as any legal action would stand little chance, especially after a recent Supreme Court decision regarding threats and among a judiciary that has expanded free speech rights in recent years.

The House Budget Committee is scheduled to meet again Sunday at 10 p.m. ET to try to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda out of the committee in preparation for a floor vote by the end of the week.

A GOP source told CNN that leadership is targeting Wednesday for the House Rules Committee to meet on the bill, where it is expected to face additional changes that are being worked out over the weekend.

While GOP leaders are hoping to flip holdouts within the party, no deal has yet been struck on that front. This comes after a group of conservative hardliners voted down the Trump agenda bill in the Budget Committee today.

Former Vice President Mike Pence at the US Capitol in Washington, DC on May 16, 2024.

Former Vice President Mike Pence said in an interview today that it is a “bad idea” for the Trump administration to accept and convert a luxury jet gifted by Qatar into a replacement for Air Force One.

CNN has previously reported that it could potentially cost hundreds of millions of dollars to convert the jet. And it could take up to two years to install the necessary security equipment, communications and defensive capabilities.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the plane. GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said Tuesday that the plane “poses significant espionage and surveillance problems.”

Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said accepting it would pose “immense counterintelligence risks by granting a foreign nation potential access to sensitive systems and communications.”

The Department of Government Efficiency is now seeking to embed staffers inside the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan congressional watchdog office that identifies waste, fraud and abuse across the federal government, according to an email to staff obtained by CNN.

DOGE emailed workers at GAO on May 13 with the subject line “DOGE Intro.” The sender introduced himself as a “DOGE staffer” working at the General Services Administration.

“Are you available for a call this week concerning the Government Accountability Office? Per the President’s January 20th Executive Order, I would like to discuss getting a DOGE team assigned to the agency,” the email stated.

In a statement to CNN, a GAO spokesperson confirmed DOGE staffers contacted the office “seeking to assign a team to GAO … As a legislative branch agency, GAO is not subject to Executive Orders and has therefore declined any requests to have a DOGE team assigned to GAO.”

In response, GAO’s general counsel replied three days later informing DOGE that “GAO is an agency in the legislative branch, not the executive branch, as a legislative branch agency GAO is not subject to executive orders, including the one cited in the email.” The email added, “Our work is performed for the Congress in furtherance of its constitutional legislative appropriations and oversight functions.”

DOGE’s attempt to extend its reach to an independent watchdog agency has sparked a strong warning from Capitol Hill democrats warning the group to back off.

Democratic lawmakers respond: Democratic Reps. Gerry Connolly, ranking member of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and Joe Morelle, ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, sent a letter on Friday to Amy Gleason, the acting administrator of DOGE.

“This action is a direct assault on the independence of a coequal branch of government and threatens to undermine the separation of powers that is fundamental to our constitutional republic. Your office must immediately cease any attempt to embed personnel within GAO or any other agency of the legislative branch,” the ranking members wrote.

This latest effort is another example of DOGE seeking to expand its influence beyond federal agencies, previously extending to non-profits that receive federal funds from Congress.

President Donald Trump was reluctant to cast Russian President Vladimir Putin as the obstacle to peace with Ukraine in an interview with Fox News after Putin skipped an opportunity to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Turkey on Thursday.

Instead, Trump pivoted to Zelensky and his regular gripes about the US giving foreign aid to Ukraine.

“Look, I had a real rough session with Zelensky because I didn’t like what he said, and he was not making it easy. And I always said he doesn’t have the cards, and he doesn’t have the cards, you know, I’m being honest. He doesn’t have the cards,” Trump told Fox News’ Bret Baier.

While Trump praised Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, the president said he’s the one who needs to meet with Putin.

“He is at the table, and he wanted this meeting. And I always felt there can’t be a meeting without me, because I don’t think a deal is going to get through,” Trump said. “We have to get together, and I think we’ll probably schedule it, because I’m tired of having other people go and meet and everything else.”

“I think Putin is tired of this whole thing,” Trump added. “He’s not looking good, and he wants to look good. Don’t forget, this was supposed to end in one week.”

Trump was noncommittal about strapping additional sanctions on Russia, as he has previously said he might impose. He did say secondary sanctions are on the table.

“I always had that. I will use that if I have to. I’d rather not use that. That’s a — by the way, that’s a big deal. I just put it on Venezuela,” Trump said.

In this October 2023 photo, President Joe Biden delivers remarks in Washington, DC.

Audio of then-President Joe Biden’s interview with former special counsel Robert Hur in the now-closed probe over Biden’s handling of classified documents was published by Axios on Friday.

The interview became one of the most notable and politically controversial parts of Hur’s investigation, which concluded there wasn’t enough evidence to charge Biden with criminal mishandling of records after his vice presidency. In a final report, Hur called Biden, 81 at the time, “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

While transcripts of Biden’s interview with Hur became public last year, these excerpts are the first audio recording of the interview to surface.

An official with the Department of Justice has confirmed the tapes’ authenticity to CNN.

A Biden spokeswoman, Kelly Scully, told CNN, “The transcripts were released by the Biden administration more than a year ago. The audio does nothing but confirm what is already public.”

The audio comes as questions about Biden’s physical and mental capabilities have returned to the spotlight. A forthcoming book – “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson – details signs of Biden’s decline while in office.

President Donald Trump said that he thinks that Qatar’s prime minister was “insulted” by some of the pushback on the luxury jet Qatar intends to gift to the Trump administration, which the president has said he wants to temporarily replace Air Force One.

“I think he was insulted, actually. He made a gift to help somebody that has helped them, it was so nice as a gesture,” the president told Fox News’ Bret Baier in an interview that aired Friday.

Trump also reiterated that the Qatari prime minister approached Trump to offer the jet, something Qatari officials have not confirmed.

“And he said, ‘Your country has been very good to us. I would love to do something to help with this situation you have with Air Force One.’ I said, ‘that’s nice. What do you suggest?’ And he suggested this and I said, ‘You know what? That’s very nice. That’s very nice. I appreciate it,’” the president told Fox News.

Both Republican and Democratic lawmakers have raised concerns about the plane. GOP Sen. Ted Cruz said Tuesday that the plane “poses significant espionage and surveillance problems.” Democratic Sen. Jack Reed, ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, said accepting it would pose “immense counterintelligence risks by granting a foreign nation potential access to sensitive systems and communications.”

CNN has previously reported that it could potentially cost hundreds of millions of dollars to convert the jet. And it could take up to two years to install the necessary security equipment, communications and defensive capabilities.

Moody’s Ratings downgraded the United States’ debt on Friday, stripping the country of its last perfect credit rating. The move could rattle financial markets and push up interest rates, potentially creating an additional financial burden for Americans already struggling with tariffs and inflation.

Of the three major credit rating agencies, Moody’s was the lone holdout, maintaining its outstanding rating of AAA for US debt. Moody’s held a perfect credit rating for the United States since 1917.

It now ranks US creditworthiness one notch below that, at Aa1, joining Fitch Ratings and S&P, which lowered their credit ratings for US debt in 2023 and 2011, respectively.

The decision to downgrade debt was influenced by “the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns,” Moody’s said in a statement. Moving forward, Moody’s said it expects borrowing needs to continue to grow and for it to weigh on the US economy as a whole.

Read more about the rating change.

The Supreme Court today blocked President Donald Trump from moving forward with deportations under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act for a group of immigrants in northern Texas, siding with Venezuelans who feared they were poised for imminent removal under the sweeping wartime authority.

The decision is a significant loss for Trump, who wants to use the law to speed deportations – and avoid the kind of review normally required before removing people from the country. But the decision is also temporary and the underlying legal fight over the president’s invocation will continue in multiple federal courts across the country.

The justices sent the case at issue back to an appeals court to decide the underlying questions in the case, including whether the president’s move is legal and, if it is, how much notice the migrants targeted under the act should receive.

Read more about the high court’s ruling here.

President Donald Trump said that he is not frustrated with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as the war against Hamas in Gaza persists.

Trump did not stop in Israel during his first official foreign trip to the Middle East, where he traveled to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.

Baier asked Trump if he thinks Netanyahu believes a potential nuclear deal with Iran is bad for the region, as the administration engages in negotiations.

“Bibi, he’s an angry man, and he should be because of October 7, and he’s been hurt badly by that, but in another way, he’s been sort of helped because I think he’s fought hard and bravely,” Trump responded.

Trump, who has repeatedly said that Gaza should be taken over by the US and developed, reiterated that the region should become a “freedom zone.”

“Gaza is a nasty place. It’s been that way for years. I think it should become a free zone, you know, freedom, I call it a freedom zone,” Trump said. “They have Hamas. Everybody is being killed all over the place. I mean, you ever see, you talk about crime stats? It’s a nasty place.”

Asked if the three countries he visited in the Middle East would be part of the solution, Trump said: “I spoke to all three of them, they would absolutely be. I mean, they’re really rich and really, really, really, even more than rich, they’re good people, and they would help. And so, money is not even the problem. You got to get countries to say, yes, take them.”

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi speaks during a joint press conference with Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Tehran, Iran, in February 2025.

Iran said on Friday that it has not received any direct or indirect written proposal from the United States regarding a nuclear deal.

“The messaging we – and the world – continue to receive is confusing and contradictory. Iran nonetheless remains determined and straightforward: Respect our rights and terminate your sanctions, and we have a deal,” the Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in a post on X.

Earlier on Friday, President Donald Trump appeared to confirm Iran had been given a formal proposal, telling reporters aboard Air Force One, “They have a proposal, but more importantly, they know that they have to move quickly or something bad – something bad’s gonna happen.”

However, a source familiar with the matter told CNN that the US has not yet tabled a follow-up proposal outlining the details of a potential Iran nuclear deal, despite some expectations that one would come this week.

More context: During last week’s talks, Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and Araghchi both brought proposals to the table, the source said. Those proposals led to hours of negotiations but since then the US has not shared a revised proposal with Iran, the source said.

The Trump administration is expecting an Iranian response to what was discussed last weekend possibly in the next round of talks, said a separate source familiar with the matter. A date for those talks has not been set yet, though it is being discussed, both sources said.

CNN has asked the White House for comment.

Earlier in the week, Trump also indicted that a deal could be within reach.

“Iran has sort of agreed to the terms,” he said, according to a White House pool report. “We’re getting close to maybe doing a deal.”

This post has been updated with Iran’s response.

President Donald Trump’s agenda has been thrown into chaos after a group of GOP hardliners blocked the bill in a key committee vote on Friday – dealing a major embarrassment to House Republican leaders and Trump himself.

The outcome of the vote does not spell the end for the bill, but it marks a major setback for GOP leaders, who will now have to determine if they can find a way forward to win over holdouts.

A core of right-wing Republicans had warned House Speaker Mike Johnson and his leadership team, both privately and publicly, that they planned to oppose the vote in the House budget panel meeting on Friday. But GOP leaders took the gamble, and proceeded with the vote anyway.

Five Republicans opposed the bill: Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Chip Roy of Texas, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania.

The next steps for the House budget panel are unclear, though the group must decide to advance Trump’s bill at some point before it can come to the floor.

The move came after a bloc of House conservatives took the rare step Friday of publicly vowing to derail Trump’s legislative agenda without major changes, casting doubt on Johnson’s ability to pass a sweeping tax and spending cuts bill next week.

Read more on the vote here.

Rep. Chip Roy speaks to reporters in Washington, DC on March 4.

GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas formally declared he is opposed to the House version of President Donald Trump’s agenda bill without “serious reforms” – signaling a major problem for House GOP leadership as they try to pass the bill next week.

Roy, a well-respected conservative in the House, trashed the bill during a critical House GOP budget committee meeting on Friday. He said the bill “falls profoundly short” of addressing the nation’s massive deficit problem.

GOP Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, too, said he is opposed to the current version — but signaled he could potentially get to yes with key changes to further tighten eligibility for Medicaid, squeezing more money from the federal health program.

Meetings with holdouts: Those conservatives’ comments came after a nearly-hour long conversation with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise. Scalise said they’re all in agreement about the changes they want to make but said they’re working through timing implementation. Some of the panel’s members aren’t on board with the bill as they want deeper spending cuts, IRA subsidies repealed, Medicaid work requirements implemented sooner, among other issues.

Scalise said Trump, who is returning from an overseas trip, has been keeping track of the bill’s progress. Norman, however, said he has not heard from the president directly.

If Trump’s bill does not advance in the committee on Friday, it may not be able to make it to the floor next week. The House Budget Committee can only lose one GOP vote on Friday and at least four members, including Roy, told reporters on Thursday they had issues with the bill.

Helping Speaker Johnson’s vote math: GOP Rep. Brandon Gill – whose wife had their second child just days earlier – made a surprise return to Washington, DC, on Friday to help advance the vote. Gill, a member of the House Budget Committee, told CNN that he will be voting to advance the bill because he needs to support the president’s agenda.

This post has been updated with additional comments from the representatives.

Members of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force search a flood damaged area in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River on October 4, 2024 in Asheville, North Carolina.

New FEMA acting Administrator David Richardson told his staff in an agency-wide call Thursday that the organization is “not necessarily” unprepared for hurricane season, adding that FEMA will likely face more reforms and steep staffing cuts in the months ahead, according to a recording of the call reviewed by CNN.

To ensure his agency is ready for potentially catastrophic disasters in hurricane season, which begins June 1, Richardson is leading what he calls a “complex problem-solving session,” which he expects his team to nearly finish next week.

“We are, to some degree, to a great degree, ready for disaster season ’25,” Richardson said, referring to the early results of his initiative.

CNN obtained an internal assessment from the agency’s review process, which lays out a long list of ongoing problems at FEMA, including uncertainty around its mission, lack of coordination with states and other federal agencies, low morale, and new red tape that will likely slow responses.

Richardson – who refers to their operation as “FEMA 2” – reiterated that the administration plans to dramatically reform and shrink FEMA in the months ahead, which could mean personnel cuts.

He stressed that President Donald Trump’s goal is to shift more responsibility for disaster preparedness, response and recovery onto the states. He plans to travel across the country to encourage state leaders to bolster their emergency management budgets and infrastructure.

Richardson has previously stated that his sole objective is to implement President Trump’s agenda.

Palestinians wait to receive food cooked by a charity kitchen in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip, on Wednesday.

President Donald Trump signaled on Friday that he wants the US to help take care of the situation in Gaza after a further wave of intense Israeli airstrikes overnight, saying “a lot of people are starving” and that he expected “a lot of good things” in the next month.

When asked by a reporter whether he supported Israeli plans to expand the war in Gaza, the president responded: “You know, a lot of people are starving on Gaza, so we have to look at both sides.”

“But we’ll, we’re going to do a good job,” he added.

More on the situation in Gaza: The Israeli military intensified operations across Gaza Thursday, killing more than 100 people and pledging to continue bombings as Trump suggested establishing a “freedom zone” in the enclave. Many of the casualties were in Jabalya in northern Gaza and in Khan Younis in the south, according to Gaza Civil Defense.

On Thursday, the president reiterated his desire to take over the Gaza Strip, telling a business roundtable in Qatar that the United States would “make it a freedom zone.”

The Department of Homeland Security has requested 20,000 National Guard members to help arrest and deport undocumented immigrants, a spokesperson has confirmed.

“DHS requested 20,000 National Guard members to help carry out the President’s mandate from the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement.

CNN reported earlier this week that the Trump administration was planning to deploy hundreds more federal personnel to ramp up arrests of undocumented immigrants as soon as this week, citing two sources familiar with the planning.