Kit Maher

Just before 6:00 a.m. Friday in Beijing, President Trump says military campaign against Iran is “to be continued!” cnn.com/politics/live-…

The families of two Americans detained in China for more than a decade are calling on President Donald Trump to use his visit to Beijing to work for their release. Both Dawn Michelle Hunt and Nelson Wells, Jr. have been imprisoned since 2014 cnn.com/webview/politi…

Trump says top business leaders he brought along with him to China are here to “pay respects” to Xi and China and build business in the nation>> "We asked the top 30 in the world. Every single one of them said yes, and I didn’t want the second or the third in the company. I wanted only the top. And they’re here today to pay respects to you and to China, and they look forward to trade and doing business, and it’s going to be totally reciprocal on our behalf."

Happening now: President Xi greets President Trump in Beijing

JD Vance on why he thinks Trump keeps bringing up 2028 speculation between him and Rubio >> “I just don’t think it sounds like the president of the United States to have a televised competition for who would succeed him as his apprentice.” cnn.com/2026/05/13/pol…

I asked @POTUS how the rising price of his ballroom (nearly x2 original estimate) and reflecting pool makeover (x7 original estimate) are any different than why he wanted to remove Fed Chair Jerome Powell for 30% cost overruns. Here’s his response:

My Q&A with Trump as he departs for China: Q: "What is your message to President Xi as it relates to the Iran war?" POTUS: "Well, I think, number one, we're going to have a long talk about it. I think he's been relatively good, to be honest with you. You look at the blockade, no problem. They get a lot of their oil from that area. We've had no problem. And he's been a friend of mine. He's been somebody that we get along with. And I think you're going to see that good things are going to happen. This is going to be a very exciting trip. A lot of good things are going to happen." Q: "Mr. President, do you think he needs to intervene at all with the Iranians? Do you think he can help in any way?" A: "No, I don't think we need any help with Iran. We'll win it one way or the other. We'll win. We'll win it peacefully or otherwise. Their Navy is gone. Their air force is gone. Every single element of their war machine is gone. They've killed a lot of people. They've killed 42,000 people, at least over the last month and a half. We win no matter how you cut it"

For additional context, this was the question posed to Trump: "When you're negotiating with Iran, Mr. President, to what extent are Americans' financial situation motivating you to make a deal?" More from Trump's response: "Not even a little bit. The only thing that matters when I'm talking about Iran, they can't have a nuclear weapon."

“I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn. “I don’t think about anybody. I think about one thing: We cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon, that’s all.”

A source familiar tells me "Makary is resigning over the vape issue that's been ongoing. He doesn't want to approve youth appealing flavors, but has been forced to by the powers that be."

Trump's disapproval rating on the economy has hit a whopping 70% in the new @cnn poll. It never even reached 50% in his first term.

🇻🇪Trump reportedly said he is “seriously considering" making Venezuela the 51st state of America, floating the idea in a phone interview with Fox News.

“Howard’s great,” WH official tells me, when asked if Lutnick’s job is safe within the administration, “No planned changes at all.” “Howard’s doing great.”

"When I reached a former longtime senior FBI official to ask whether he’d ever seen personally branded liquor bottles distributed by a previous FBI director, he burst out laughing." theatlantic.com/politics/2026/…

Today in the Oval: Trump tells UFC fighter Ilia Topuria "I have a false image," when Topuria tells him "I never thought you'd be so kind."

Trump holds up new rendering for UFC fight on the South Lawn June 14 "not final subject to changes" Photo: Kent Nishimura

Trump shows the renderings of the cage for the UFC fight happening at the White House on his 80th birthday this summer:

The US has the situation in Iran “very much under control,” President Trump told told military mothers at the White House. “We’re dealing with people that want to make a deal very much. We’ll see whether or not they can make a deal that’s satisfactory to us. We have it very much under control."

Ted Turner, the media maverick and philanthropist who founded CNN, a pioneering 24-hour network that revolutionized television news, died Wednesday, according to a news release from Turner Enterprises. He was 87. cnn.com/2026/05/06/us/…