Congress
Trump discusses his viral moment with Obama
Donald Trump is talking about what appeared to be a warm moment between him and Barack Obama.
Trump concedes the pair did seem to be on friendly terms when cameras captured them chatting, and Obama laughing as they sat next to each other Thursday at the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter.
The president-elect was asked about it later in a Fox News interview from his home in Florida.
“It did look very friendly, I must say,” Trump said. “I didn’t realize how friendly it looked. I saw it on your wonderful network, just a little while ago before I came in and I said ‘Boy, they look like two people that like each other.’ And we probably do,” he said.
Trump didn’t say what he and Obama were talking about in the viral moment.
“We have little different philosophies, right? I don’t know, we just got along. But I got along with everybody on that. You know we met backstage before we went on, and I thought it was a beautiful service, but we all got along very well.”
Trump answered questions from Fox News’ Peter Doocy for roughly 20 minutes ahead of the president-elect’s meeting with Republican governors at Mar-a-Lago.
He again criticized state and local officials in California for their handling of the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles and reiterated his interest in Greenland and making Canada into the 51st state.
He didn’t have an answer on whether he supported the Biden administration’s talks with the Taliban for the release of Americans held in Afghanistan, saying he would be looking into it on Friday. Asked about recent mysterious drone sightings, he vowed to release a report the day after his inauguration “because I think it’s ridiculous they’re not telling you about the drones.”
Trump also said his team is working on scheduling meetings with several foreign leaders, including Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. He said his team has also been in communication with Chinese President Xi Jinping.
A meeting is now underway seeking potential paths for ending the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security.
Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, is meeting with top Senate appropriators and other key senators. It’s the second meeting of the same group in as many days.
Speaker Mike Johnson is planning to put a stalled Homeland Security funding bill on the House floor a third time next week, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss private plans, as the GOP moves to further pressure Democrats to end the five-week closure.
Two versions of the bill have already passed the House, each time with just a few House Democrats breaking from party lines to back it. But the bill is still held up in the Senate, where Democrats have refused to approve DHS funding without adding new restrictions on immigration enforcement.
The House will also vote on a resolution next week in support of DHS workers, including TSA officers who have gone without pay as the spring break travel crush stresses U.S. airports.
House GOP leaders are punting a reauthorization vote for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that they had hoped to hold next week until mid-April, with a GOP hard-liner revolt over warrantless surveillance threatening to tank the legislation, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter granted anonymity to discuss the conference dynamics.
GOP leaders are still dealing with a dozen or so Republican members who want reforms to the spy powers extension, as Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to pass a clean, 18-month extension without any changes. President Donald Trump has also asked for the clean extension.
Johnson and GOP leaders will instead work through the remaining issues over the upcoming two-week recess and try to put the extension on the floor the week of April 14, the people said.
Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) and a group of ultraconservatives have warned GOP leaders that the reauthorization would fail if Johnson tried to push it through next week.
Another House Republican told Blue Light News there was “no way” a rule to advance a clean FISA extension would pass next week.
Johnson can lose only two votes on a rule to advance the measure, and already a handful of GOP hard-liners have told Blue Light News they would oppose it.
The FISA reauthorization deadline is April 20, and the delay leaves barely any time for the Senate to act.
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