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Trump vows to not sign any new legislation until SAVE America act is passed
The president has threatened to not sign any new legislation into law until a key voter ID bill is passed on Capitol Hill.
On Truth Social, Trump said that lawmakers must pass the SAVE America act “immediately” as it “supersedes everything else”.
Trump added that he did not want the “watered down version” to advance. A reminder, the bill would require proof of citizenship at voter registration and significantly curtail mail-in voting, but is struggling to clear the Senate. The president, however, remained resolute on social media:
GO FOR THE GOLD: MUST SHOW VOTER I.D. & PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP: NO MAIL-IN BALLOTS EXCEPT FOR MILITARY – ILLNESS, DISABILITY, TRAVEL: NO MEN IN WOMEN’S SPORTS: NO TRANSGENDER MUTILIZATION FOR CHILDREN! DO NOT FAIL!!!
Key events
Donald Trump laid out a set of restrictions for the Save America Act, which aims to change voting requirements ahead of the midterm elections, as he delivered remarks at a Republican event in Miami.
“All voters must show proof of citizenship in order to vote,” he says. “No mail-in ballots, except for illness, disability, military or travel.”
He claimed that, if the bill were to pass, Democrats “probably won’t win an election for 50 years and maybe longer.”
During an event in Florida, Donald Trump said Iran was “looking to take over the Middle East.”
“We have pretty good proof,” Trump said. “They were going to attack us, 100% they were ready. They had all these missiles, far more than anyone thought, and they were going to attack us, they were going to attack all the Middle East and Israel.”
“They had all of those missile sites and all those launches that we got rid of,” he added.
Donald Trump is delivering remarks at his golf resort in Miami for the House Republicans’ annual retreat.
“The representatives in this room provided the pivotal votes in securing a record $1 trillion for the United States military this year,” Trump said. “Now the world is witnessing the importance of that investment with one of the most complex and stunning operations ever conducted. That’s Operation Epic Fury.”
“The world respects us right now more than they have ever respected us before,” he added. “We’re the strongest military anywhere in the Earth, and now everybody understands it.”
“Together with our Israeli partners, we’re crushing the enemy in an overwhelming display of technical skill and military force. Iran’s drone and missile capability is being utterly demolished,” Trump said.
Donald Trump told CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang that the war against Iran could be over soon.
“I think the war is very complete, pretty much,” Trump said, according to a post on X by Jiang, senior White House correspondent at CBS.
“They have no navy, no communications, they’ve got no Air Force,” Trump said, according to Jiang.
She also asked the US president about Iran’s new Supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei, whom Trump has criticized before.
“I have no message for him. None, whatsoever,” he said, according to Jiang. Trump said he has someone in mind to replace Khamenei, but he did not elaborate.
Here’s a recap of the day so far
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Donald Trump has threatened to not sign any new legislation into law until a key voter ID bill is passed on Capitol Hill. On Truth Social, Trump said that lawmakers must pass the SAVE America act “immediately” as it “supersedes everything else”. A reminder, the bill would require proof of citizenship at voter registration and significantly curtail mail-in voting, but is struggling to clear the Senate.
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Two teenagers were charged on Monday with offenses, including terrorism and using a weapon of mass destruction, after they allegedly threw improvised explosive devices outside the residence of New York mayor Zohran Mamdani. The incident took place on Saturday during an anti-Islam protest by rightwing agitators outside Gracie Mansion on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Mamdani and his wife were not at home. According to a criminal complaint, unsealed on Monday, both defendants declared allegiance to the Islamic State terror group.
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Donald Trump has said the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as the the next supreme leader of Iran is a “big mistake”. Speaking about the late ayatollah’s son, he told NBC News: “I think they made a big mistake. I don’t know if it’s going to last. I think they made a mistake.” Earlier, he told the New York Post that he is “not happy” with Khamenei.
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Andy Ogles, a Republican congressman for Tennessee’s fifth district, wrote on social media that “Muslims don’t belong in America”. His racist and xenophobic post on Monday is the latest instance of Ogles denigrating the Muslim faith. He has also said that Islam is “incompatible” with American value, and proposed legislation that would ban immigration from several Muslim-majority countries. Democratic lawmakers were quick to rebuke Ogles, and called on congressional Republicans to condemn his remarks.
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The Pentagon has identified the seventh US service member killed in the war with Iran as 26-year-old army Sgt Benjamin N Pennington, who is a resident of Glendale, Kentucky. In a statement on Monday the defense department said Pennington died on Sunday from injuries sustained during an Iranian strike on the Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia on 1 March.
Anna Betts
The Pentagon has identified the seventh US service member killed in the war with Iran as 26-year-old army Sgt Benjamin N Pennington, who is a resident of Glendale, Kentucky.
In a statement on Monday the department said Pennington died on Sunday from injuries sustained during an Iranian strike on the Prince Sultan airbase in Saudi Arabia on 1 March. The incident is under investigation, the statement said.
Pennington was assigned to first space battalion, first space brigade, Fort Carson, Colorado, the Pentagon said. The brigade is part of the army space and missile defense command.
US Central Command announced the death on Sunday, but did not identify the service member. In its statement, US Central Command said that the service member had been “seriously wounded” when the Saudi military base was struck on 1 March and had “passed away from injuries”.
“The US Army Space and Missile Defense Command is deeply saddened by the loss of Sgt. Pennington,” Lt Gen Sean A Gainey, USASMDC commanding general, said. “He gave the ultimate sacrifice for the country he loved. That makes him nothing less than a hero, and he will always be remembered that way. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends.”
Per my last post, it’s also worth remembering that Ogles wrote to attorney general Pam Bondi and called on the justice department to pursue denaturalization proceedings against Zohran Mamdani, while he was running to be mayor of New York in 2025.
“Zohran ‘little muhammad’ Mamdani is an antisemitic, socialist, communist who will destroy the great City of New York,” Ogles wrote in June last year. “He needs to be DEPORTED.”
Ogles’ comments about Mamdani and House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries (in which he called the New York lawmaker a “dime store Barack Obama) were all part of a censure resolution that House Democrats introduced last year.
Republican congressman says that ‘Muslims don’t belong in American society’
Andy Ogles, a Republican congressman for Tennessee’s fifth district, wrote on social media that “Muslims don’t belong in America”.
His racist and xenophobic post on Monday comes hours after officials in New York said that the improvised explosive device thrown outside Gracie Mansion – as part of a counter-protest to a white supremacist march – is being investigated as an act of “Isis inspired terrorism”.
Ogles has repeatedly denigrated the Muslim faith, insisting that it is “incompatible” with American values. His Islamophobic espousals have manifested in a piece of proposed legislation that would ban immigration from several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, Syria and Libya. The bill mimicks Donald Trump’s so-called “Muslim ban” executive order during his first term in office.
In response, several Democrats have assailed Ogles’ comments. The House’s top Democrat, Hakeem Jeffries, called the Republican representative “a malignant clown and pathological liar” who has fabricated his whole life story”. A reminder that Ogles’ career has received immense scrutiny from local news outlets.
“Disgusting Islamophobes like you do not belong in Congress or in civilized society. And that’s why House Democrats will defeat you in November,” Jeffries said of Ogles in a statement.
Gavin Newsom’s office called on congressional Republicans to Denounce Ogles’ posts on social media. GOP House speaker Mike Johnson did not immediately respond to the Guardian’s request for comment.
Democratic congressman Eric Swalwell, whose district is adjacent to San Francisco, questioned how many Muslim live in Ogles’ constituency. “I know there are tens of thousands in mine,” Swalwell said in a post on X. “They are parents. Entrepreneurs. Police officers. The firefighter-paramedic giving CPR to save your life…They are American.”
Other Democratic lawmakers pushed back against Ogles’ comments on social media. “Maybe it’s YOUR values that don’t belong in American society,” said Shri Thanedar, who represents a large Muslim population in the Detroit area. While Don Beyer of Virginia, said that Ogles “seems unable to comprehend the basic values the United States was founded on – like religious freedom under the First Amendment”.
Trump calls selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as Iran’s supreme leader a ‘big mistake’
Lucy Campbell
In further comments, Donald Trump has said the selection of Mojtaba Khamenei as the the next supreme leader of Iran is a “big mistake”.
He told NBC News: “I think they made a big mistake. I don’t know if it’s going to last. I think they made a mistake.”
The US president has previously said the late ayatollah’s son would be an “unacceptable” choice (see here), while Israel vowed to target any successor (see here).
Lindsey Graham advises Israel to be ‘cautious’ about strike targets
Republican senator, and noted Iran hawk, Lindsey Graham commended Israel for its “amazing capability” to weaken “the murderous regime in Iran”.
However, he urged Israel forces to “be cautious about what targets you select”, following the strikes on Iranian oil facilities.
Israel struck at least five energy sites in and around Tehran over the weekend, while disruptions to the oil supply chain has caused the price per barrel to jump. Energy secretary Chris Wright pledged that the US would not target Iranian energy infrastructure, as Iran’s regime vowed retaliatory attacks on oil facilities across the Gulf region.
“Our goal is to liberate the Iranian people in a fashion that does not cripple their chance to start a new and better life when this regime collapses,” Graham added. “The oil economy of Iran will be essential to that endeavor.”
A reminder that my colleagues are covering the latest developments out of the Middle East at our dedicated live blog.
My colleague Lucy Campbell just reported on Trump’s latest comments to the New York Post about Mojtaba Khamenei, the late ayatollah’s son who was chosen to lead Iran.
Asked about his plans for Khamenei, Trump told the paper: “Not going to tell you. Not going to tell you. I’m not happy with him.”
It followed overt threats from the president ahead of Khamenei’s election, after Trump made clear he considered him an “unacceptable” choice. On Sunday, he told ABC News that the new leader “is not going to last long” if “he doesn’t get approval from us”.
Trump told Axios last week that “Khamenei’s son is a lightweight” and that he must be involved in the selection of the new supreme leader “like with Delcy [Rodriguez] in Venezuela”.
Donald Trump has announced that he will hold a news conference at 5.30pm ET today from the ballroom at Trump National Doral Miami before he heads back to DC from Florida.
As the US-Israeli war on Iran enters its second week, the president said in his post on Truth Social that there have been “many important meetings and phone calls taking place today”.
This will be his first official press conference since the war began, and we’ll be covering all of it here later.
Trump ‘nowhere near’ deciding to send troops to Iran to secure nuclear stockpile
In an interview with the New York Post, Donald Trump said today that he’s “nowhere near” deciding whether to send US troops into Iran to secure the stockpile of highly enriched uranium there.
“We haven’t made any decision on that. We’re nowhere near it,” Trump said when asked about reported discussions between Israel and the United States on possibly deploying special forces to Isfahan to seize and secure the material.
Trump claimed last month – without evidence – that Tehran was beginning to rebuild the nuclear program that he claimed had been “obliterated” by US strikes in June last year.
Iran denies seeking a nuclear arsenal, saying its enrichment of uranium is strictly for civilian use.
A reminder that my colleague Tom Ambrose is covering all the latest on the US-Israeli war on Iran here:
Trump says Australia has ‘taken care of’ some Iranian women soccer players
Further to that last post, Donald Trump has said in an update that he’s spoken to Australia’s prime minister Anthony Albanese about granting members of the Iranian national women’s soccer team amid fears they could be punished if they return to Iran.
The US president said on Truth Social:
He’s on it! Five have already been taken care of, and the rest are on their way.
Australia’s SBS News earlier said five players had “broken free” after the team was eliminated from the Asian Cup tournament and were now under the protection of the federal police, seeking assistance from the government.
Trump went on:
Some, however, feel they must go back because they are worried about the safety of their families, including threats to those family members if they don’t return.
He ended by praising Albanese: “In any event, the Prime Minister is doing a very good job having to do with this rather delicate situation.”
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