The White House on Monday turned down a request from Senate Democrats to discuss funding the Department of Homeland Security, according to a person familiar with the matter.

"Hopefully, a meeting gets set soon once Senate Republicans and the White House get on the same page," the source told HuffPost.

Bipartisan talks on resolving the DHS funding stalemate had made some progress, particularly on requiring federal immigration agents to wear body-worn cameras, sensitive location enforcement, training standards, and officer IDs. However, the two sides don't agree on other Democratic demands, such as prohibiting federal agents from wearing masks and requiring that they obtain judicial warrants before forcibly entering homes.

President Donald Trump confirmed on Monday that he told GOP senators to "not settle" or make a deal with Democrats on DHS funding without also passing his voting and transgender policy bill, the "SAVE America Act," which is going nowhere in the Senate.

Trump suggested on Monday that he might jointly control the Strait of Hormuz with Iran, the country he's waged war against that already has control over the strait.

"Who's gonna be in control of the Strait of Hormuz? Will Iran still be able to control the flow of oil?" CNN's Kaitlin Collins asked the president, to which he said, "Uh, it'll be jointly controlled."

When the reporter pressed him on who specifically would be jointly controlling the strait, Trump said, "Maybe me."

"Maybe me. Me and the ayatollah, whoever the ayatollah is," he answered. "And there will also be a very serious form of regime change."

Americans have been feeling the squeeze due to Iran blocking the U.S. from using the major strait, slowing oil shipments.

President Donald Trump's well-known catchphrases were mercilessly mocked in a video released Sunday by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a personal jab amid the volley of military threats between Iran and the United States.

"Hey Trump, you're fired. You're familiar with this sentence," Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for the IRGC's Khatam Al Anbiya Central Headquarters, said in English. "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

Trump does not appear to have responded to the mockery, instead posting on Truth Social that the U.S. and Iran are having "very good and productive conversations." Like many of his posts, Trump ended it with, "Thank you for your attention to this matter!"

President Donald Trump said the U.S. has not heard from Iran’s new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, and it’s not known whether he’s actually alive.

“We have not heard from the son. Every once in a while you’ll see a statement made, but we don’t know if he’s living,” Trump told reporters Monday morning.

Khamenei was reported to have been injured in the same Feb. 28 airstrike that killed his father, the late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

In Khamenei's place, Trump said the U.S. has been dealing with “a top person,” whom he did not identify, when it comes to negotiations with Iran.

“We’re dealing with the man who I believe is the most respected and the leader. It’s a little tough. We’ve wiped out everybody,” he said.

His belief that this person is Iran's actual leader is because “things they’ve said have taken place.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth earlier this month said Khamenei “is wounded and likely disfigured.” He also appeared to base that assessment on Khamenei's public absence.

Many photos of Khamenei released by the Iranian government in the wake of his appointment were generated or modified by artificial intelligence, The Wall Street Journal reported Saturday, citing its own analysis and scholars of Iran’s visual imagery.

President Donald Trump told reporters that Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents being deployed to airports to assist TSA agents will carry out immigration arrests, but their primary goal is “to help.”

Trump answered in the affirmative when asked whether “we will see ICE arresting illegal migrants at airports.”

“Yeah, that’s why the democrats are going crazy,” he answered.

“They really are a very high group of people,” he said of ICE agents, ”and they love it because they’re able to now arrest illegals as they come into the country. That’s very fertile territory. But that’s not why they’re there, they’re really there to help.”

Trump on Saturday had threatened to deploy ICE agents to the nation’s airports “where they will do Security like no one has ever seen before, including the immediate arrest of all Illegal Immigrants who have come into our Country,” he posted to TruthSocial.

He added that there would be “heavy emphasis” on those traveling from Somalia.

President Donald Trump affirmed Monday that he would still like Congress to authorize an additional $200 billion for military use amid the war in Iran, even though he said the conflict could be “winding down” soon, claiming both sides are currently in talks to bring it to an end.

“It’s always nice to have,” Trump said of the extra funding. “It’s a very inflamed world, and the Democrats inflame it. You know, largely, the Democrats inflame it.”

Trump gave the order to begin attacking Iran without authorization from anyone in Congress on either side of the aisle.

Federal immigration officers have been seen at an airport in Atlanta after President Donald Trump said he'd deploy agents to supplement the Transportation Security Administration during a government shutdown that has caused long lines at security checkpoints across the country.

On Monday morning, a handful of federal agents were seen by The Associated Press near busy lines at Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

Read more at The Associated Press:

President Donald Trump said he “would greatly appreciate” it if the ICE agents being deployed to airports during the TSA staffing shortage would not wear masks, while still supporting their use during deportation operations.

“I am a BIG proponent of ICE wearing masks as they search for, and are forced to deal with, hardened criminals,” he posted to TruthSocial Monday morning.

“I would greatly appreciate, however, NO MASKS, when helping our Country out of the Democrat caused MESS at the airports, etc.,” he continued, after briefly complaining about the Biden administration’s “absolutely INSANE Open Border Policy.”

The Trump administration started deploying ICE agents to airports on Monday to assist TSA agents working without pay during the partial government shutdown.

The ground stop issued at Newark Liberty International Airport has been lifted, according to the Federal Aviation Administration’s website.

The stoppage reportedly followed an air traffic control tower being evacuated after reports of smoke.

The airport is experiencing departure delays of around 38 minutes, and increasing, according to Flightaware.com.

A ground stop has been issued for planes departing from the Newark Liberty International Airport, the Federal Aviation Administration said in an alert.

The stoppage is slated to last until 9:30 a.m. ET, according to the notification on the FAA’s website, and is due to an air traffic control tower being evacuated after reports of smoke, according to ABC News.

On Monday, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in a case that could have a major impact for the votes of millions of Americans — at least, assuming their votes are allowed to be counted.

The case, Watson v. Republican National Committee, challenges whether state officials can count electoral ballots postmarked by Election Day and received less than a week after an election is held.

The case seeks to overturn a 2020 Mississippi state law that allowed absentee voters to mail in their ballots with a postmark as late as Election Day and allowed them to be counted if they were received within five days after Election Day. Notably, the state law was passed with bipartisan support and was signed into law by Mississippi’s Republican Gov. Tate Reeves.

Read more here:

President Donald Trump on Sunday reportedly turned down a proposal by Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) that would have had Senate Republicans vote to fund all of the Department of Homeland Security except for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to Punchbowl News, in an effort to end the partial government shutdown, which has caused chaos at airports across the country.

Thune said funding for ICE could be approved in a later reconciliation bill but Trump rejected the idea and also threatened to publicly call out GOP Senate members if they left D.C. for the upcoming recess without having passed DHS funding and his SAVE America Act, a sweeping bill that would require people to show proof of citizenship when registering to vote, among other things, Punchbowl said.

Trump added that he is planning to host GOP senators and their families for Easter Dinner at the White House, but not all members saw the president's invitation as a reward, the report states.

Read more at Punchbowl News.

President Donald Trump on Monday announced he's ordered the Pentagon to "postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure" for five days, saying the two sides held talks over the weekend.

"I am pleased to report that the United States of America, and the country of Iran, have had, over the last two days, very good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East," Trump wrote in an all-caps post on his Truth Social platform.

"Based on the tenor and tone of these in depth, detailed, and constructive conversations, which will continue throughout the week, I have instructed the Department of War to postpone any and all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for a five day period, subject to the success of the ongoing meetings and discussions," he added.

Trump's message appears to extend the 48-hour deadline he had set for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Trump had warned Iran on Saturday that if it failed to reopen the waterway by Monday evening, the U.S. would "hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST!"

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday said there's no indication Iran has plans to attack the mainland U.K. after Iran targeted a U.S.-U.K. joint military base in the Indian Ocean on Friday.

"We carry out assessments all the time in order to keep us safe, and there's no assessment that we're being targeted in that way," Starmer said.

Iran reportedly fired off two intermediate-range ballistic missiles aimed at Diego Garcia but the strikes were unsuccessful. The Israeli Defense Forces claimed the incident indicates Iran has "missiles that can reach London, Paris or Berlin."

Meanwhile, as the war enters its fourth week, Starmer spoke to President Donald Trump on Sunday.

"The leaders discussed the current situation in the Middle East, and in particular, the need to reopen the Strait of Hormuz to resume global shipping," the readout from Starmer's office states. "They agreed that reopening the Strait of Hormuz was essential to ensure stability in the global energy market."

James "Jimmy" Gracey, a college student from Illinois who was found dead after going missing while in Barcelona on a break, was likely the victim of an accident, Spanish regional police said Friday.

Gracey’s body was found Thursday afternoon in the waters off a beach, near where he was last seen outside a Barcelona nightclub with his friends in the early hours of Tuesday.

A spokesperson for Catalonia's regional police in Barcelona told The Associated Press that "all signs point" to the University of Alabama student’s death being accidental, and that an autopsy would take place.

Read more at The Associated Press:

Both pilots were killed after an Air Canada AC.TO Express regional jet collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia airport late on Sunday, closing the airport, officials said, in an incident set to draw scrutiny following a string of recent aviation lapses.

The Federal Aviation Administration said the airport was expected to remain shut until 2 p.m. Monday.

Read more at Reuters:

Four ambulances belonging to a Jewish charity in London were set on fire early Monday morning in London, in what British police are investigating as an antisemitic hate crime.

No one was injured in the overnight attack, which shattered windows in nearby homes.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned the "deeply shocking antisemitic arson attack."

Read more at The Associated Press:

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens confirmed Sunday that Immigration and Customs Enforcement will be deployed to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport beginning Monday morning, though questions remained about the role that federal agents would play.

"According to federal officials, these personnel will be assigned to support operational needs directed by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), including line management and crowd control within the domestic terminals," Dickens wrote in a statement. "Federal officials have indicated that this deployment is not intended to conduct immigration enforcement activities."

Dickens added that ICE personnel will report directly to the TSA for the duration of their assignment.

On Saturday, President Donald Trump threatened to send ICE to airports across the country if Congressional Democrats didn’t fund the Department of Homeland Security, which includes TSA.

On Sunday morning, Border Czar Tom Homan told CNN he was still working to develop a plan for the officers' roles.

"The last thing the American people need is for untrained ICE agents to be deployed at airports across the country, potentially to brutalize or to kill them," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said in a CNN interview on Sunday.

A California sheriff running for governor has seized more than half a million ballots cast in a November special election from county election officials, saying he’s investigating a ballot count discrepancy.

County elections officials have disputed the claims by Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco, a Republican. California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a Democrat, called Bianco’s move unprecedented and said it is designed to sow distrust in elections.

Read more from The Associated Press:

U.S. and Israeli security officials now view a battle for the Strait of Hormuz as a potential endgame for the war on Iran, as other goals like regime change seem increasingly unlikely, according to The Washington Post.

It's an exceedingly risky prospect, given how challenging it would be for the U.S. to secure the Strait and the dangers such an operation would pose to service members deployed for it.

The U.S.'s apparent reluctance to send ships into the waterway, and calls for help from allies, signal how complex and hazardous reopening the Strait can be, Israeli officials said.

Read more from The Washington Post:

By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. You are also agreeing to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.