Politics
Trump hints at future target, raises stakes after Iran, Venezuela moves
- Trump suggests Cuba nearing collapse amid economic crisis.
- Says US opens talks with Cuban leaders to avoid escalation.
- Hints force an option, saying “sometimes you have to use it”.
US President Donald Trump on Friday said “Cuba is next” during a speech at an investment forum in Miami, during which he touted the successes of US military action in Venezuela and Iran.
While the president did not specify what precisely he plans to do with the island nation, he has frequently said he believes the government in Havana, facing a severe economic crisis, is on the verge of collapse.
His administration has opened up negotiations with elements of Cuba’s leadership in recent weeks, while Trump himself has hinted that kinetic action could be possible.
“I built this great military. I said, ‘You’ll never have to use it.’ But sometimes you have to use it. And Cuba is next, by the way,” Trump told the conference on Friday.
“But pretend I didn’t say that. Pretend I didn’t.”
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel has acknowledged that the country is in talks with the US in a bid to avert potential military confrontation. Cuba’s economy has been battered by disruptions in oil imports, which it relies on to run power plants and transportation.
Prior to the US operation to capture now-deposed Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in January, Venezuela had provided much of Cuba’s oil needs, but Caracas’ new government, under pressure from Washington, has ended those shipments.
Earlier in March, Trump had said Cuba may be subject to a “friendly takeover,” before adding: “It may not be a friendly takeover.”
US President Donald Trump on Friday said he won’t be attending the wedding of his eldest son, Donald Trump Junior, to Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson because he has to stay in Washington for government business.
“While I very much wanted to be with my son, Don Junior, and the newest member of the Trump Family, his soon to be wife, Bettina, circumstances pertaining to Government, and my love for the United States of America, do not allow me to do so,” Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social.
“I feel it is important for me to remain in Washington, DC, at the White House during this important period of time,” the post continued.
The wedding is taking place this weekend on a small island in the Bahamas, CNN reported on Thursday, citing two people familiar with the plans. A spokesperson for Donald Trump Jr did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Trump told reporters on Thursday that Donald Trump Jr wanted his father to attend, but that it was going to be a “small private affair.”
Trump said then he would try to make the wedding but the timing was bad for him.
“I have a thing called Iran and other things,” Trump said on Thursday.
The Trump administration is currently engaged in diplomatic talks mediated by Pakistan aimed at securing a deal to end the war with Iran the US and Israel began on February 28 which has roiled the global economy.
This is the third time Donald Trump Jr has been engaged. He was previously married to Vanessa, a former model and actress, for 12 years and the couple has five children together. Vanessa filed for a divorce in 2018. He was later engaged to Kimberly Guilfoyle, a US television personality, until they separated in 2024.
- Gabbard cites rare bone cancer in husband as reason for exit.
- Trump accepts resignation, praises her service in Truth Social post.
- Aaron Lukas named acting Director of National Intelligence.
Tulsi Gabbard said on Friday she is resigning from her job as President Donald Trump’s director of national intelligence, saying her husband had been diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer and that she was stepping away from her role to help him.
Gabbard advised Trump of her intention to step down during an Oval Office meeting on Friday, Fox News Digital reported earlier. The resignation is effective June 30, it said.
A source familiar with the matter said that Gabbard had been forced out by the White House.
In her resignation letter posted on X, Gabbard told Trump she was “deeply grateful for the trust you placed in me and for the opportunity to lead the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for the last year and a half.”
She cited her husband’s recent diagnosis with a rare form of bone cancer.
“I cannot in good conscience ask him to face this fight alone while I continue in this demanding and time-consuming post,” she said.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump said the Principal Deputy Director of National Intelligence, Aaron Lukas, would serve as acting director of national intelligence.
He said Gabbard had done “a great job” but with her husband diagnosed with bone cancer, “she, rightfully, wants to be with him, bringing him back to good health as they currently fight a tough battle together.”
Trump has hinted in the past at differences with Gabbard on their approach to Iran, saying in March that she was “softer” than him on curbing Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
- USCIS announces move in policy memo.
- New policy to free up agency to work on other cases: USCIS
- Latest step part of Trump’s policy to tighten migration laws.
Foreigners seeking to adjust their immigration status in the United States to secure green cards will have to do so from outside the country via the State Department, the US Citizenship and Immigration Services said on Friday, in a move criticised by aid groups.
USCIS announced the move in a policy memo, which directed officers to consider relevant factors and information on a case-by-case basis when determining whether extraordinary relief is warranted.
“An alien who is in the US temporarily and wants a Green Card must return to their home country to apply,” said the US Department of Homeland Security, which has oversight of USCIS.
“This policy allows our immigration system to function as the law intended instead of incentivising loopholes.”
The USCIS said the new policy will free up agency resources to focus on processing other cases.
HIAS, an aid group that provides services to refugees, among other groups of immigrants, said USCIS was forcing survivors of trafficking and abused and neglected children to return to the dangerous countries they fled in order to process their applications for green cards, granting them permanent residency in the US.
Friday’s policy change is the latest in a series of steps taken by US President Donald Trump over the last year to tighten migration to the United States.
Last year, the Trump administration moved to shorten the duration of visas for students, cultural exchange visitors and members of the media.
In January, the State Department announced that it had revoked more than 100,000 visas since Trump took office the year before.
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