Importance Score: 78 / 100 🔴
Bukele says he does not plan to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US or within El Salvador
“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I’m not going to do it,” says Bukele. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
He adds he wouldn’t release Abrego Garcia into El Salvador either. “I’m not very fond of releasing terrorists into the country,” he says.
Key events
Andrew Roth
Republican supporters of Ukraine are using the Kremlin’s deadly missile strikes as their latest evidence to convince Donald Trump that he must increase pressure on Vladimir Putin if he wants to reach a ceasefire deal.
Pro-Ukraine lawmakers and aides in the Republican party have carefully navigated Trump’s apparent affinity for Putin and avoided direct intervention in their efforts to shift his support toward Kyiv. But following the Russian strikes during Palm Sunday celebrations in the city of Sumy, advisers and allies have been highly vocal in condemning the attack using language meant to resonate with the US president’s conservative, religious base.
“Putin and peace apparently do not fit in the same sentence,” wrote Lindsey Graham, the Trump-allied senator who has sought to balance his support for Ukraine with his desire to remain on Trump’s good side.
Russia’s barbaric Palm Sunday attack on Christian worshippers in Ukraine seems to be Putin’s answer to efforts to achieve a ceasefire and peace.
The strike came less than 48 hours after Steve Witkoff, the Trump envoy, met with Putin in St Petersburg. The Kremlin called the meeting “extremely useful and very effective”, although there was no indication that the two men achieved concrete results. Witkoff’s gesture of holding has hand over his heart when he saw Putin has been criticised in Washington as excessively fawning and naive.
Joe Biden has condemned the arson attack on Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro’s home on Sunday, saying he was “disgusted” by the fire that left significant damage and forced Shapiro, his family and guests to evacuate the building during the Jewish holiday of Passover.
“We are relieved that they are safe and grateful to the first responders,” the former president posted to X on Monday.
There is no place for this type of evil in America, and as I told the Governor yesterday, we must stand united against hatred and violence.
Donald Trump, speaking to reporters from the Oval Office just earlier, also condemned the attack.
Asked about the suspect, Cody Balmer, Trump said he was “probably a wack job” and “not a fan” of his. “A thing like that cannot be allowed to happen,” he added.
That’s it, the press briefing is over.
Trump reaffirms that he’s ‘all for’ deporting naturalized US citizens who commit violent crimes
Asked if he’s open to deporting naturalized US citizens to El Salvador, Trump says yes, “if they’re criminals”.
That includes them, they’re as bad as anybody. I’m all for it.
He adds the US can do it via El Salvador “for less money and have great security”.
There are “others” the administration is negotiating with too, Trump adds.
Trump repeats threat to strike Iran militarily if it doesn’t give up nuclear programme
Trump says Iran must abandon any drive for a nuclear weapon or face harsh consequences that could include a military strike on Tehran’s nuclear facilities.
“Of course it does,” Trump said when asked if a potential response could include strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.
Trump says he expects to impose tariffs on imported pharmaceuticals “in the not-too-distant future”.
Trump says he plans to deport ‘as many people as possible’ who are in the US ‘illegally’
Asked how many “illegal criminals” he will export from the US, Trump says he will deport “as many as possible”.
Referring to El Salvador’s notorious Cecot prison, where the deported people have been sent, Trump says he asked Bukele if he could build more of them. He suggests he would be open to helping El Salvador financially to do so.
“The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court. And no court in the United States has a right to conduct the foreign policy of the United States,” Marco Rubio adds.
Bukele says he does not plan to release Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US or within El Salvador
“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I’m not going to do it,” says Bukele. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
He adds he wouldn’t release Abrego Garcia into El Salvador either. “I’m not very fond of releasing terrorists into the country,” he says.
‘No version of this ends with him living here,’: Miller says US would deport Abrego Garcia again if he was sent back to US
“The [supreme court] ruling solely stated that if this individual at El Salvador’s sole discretion was sent back to our country, that we could deport him a second time,” Stephen Miller says.
No version of this legally ends with him ever living here because he is a citizen of El Salvador.
“No district court has the power to compel the foreign policy function of the United States,” Miller adds.
Stephen Miller says that bringing Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the US would be “to kidnap a citizen of El Salvador and fly him back here”.
The White House deputy chief of staff goes on:
The supreme court stated clearly that neither the secretary of state nor the president could be compelled by anybody to forcibly retrieve a citizen of El Salvador from El Salvador who, again, is a member of MS13.
‘If they want to, we would provide a plane’: Pam Bondi says it’s ‘up to El Salvador’ to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to US
Asked if he’s planning to ask Bukele to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, to the US, Trump defers to Pam Bondi.
The US attorney general doubles down on the administration’s claim that Abrego Garcia was in the country “illegally” and was a gang member:
In 2019 two courts ruled that he was a member of MS13 and he was illegally in our country. Right now, it was additional paperwork had needed to be done. That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him – that’s not up to us. The supreme court ruled that if El Salvador wants to return him, we would ‘facilitate’ it, meaning provide a plane.
‘Putin should’ve never started it’: Trump acknowledges Putin started the war in Ukraine before blaming ‘everyone’
Asked what “mistake” Russia had made in its attack on Ukraine on Sunday, Trump says the mistake was letting the war happen.
If Biden were competent and if Zelenskyy were competent, and I don’t know that he is, we had a rough session with this guy, he just kept asking for more and more … that war shouldn’t have been allowed to happen.
He goes on: “I went four years and Putin wouldn’t even bring it up. As soon as the election was rigged and I wasn’t here, that war started,” he claims.
Trump adds: “Biden should’ve stopped it.” He then blames it on oil prices being too high, before claiming:
This was Biden’s war and I’m trying to stop it.
He doesn’t answer the part of the reporter’s question about giving Vladimir Putin a deadline by which to abide by a ceasefire, but then – contrary to his previous statements – he appears to acknowledge that Putin started the war, before backtracking somewhat, blaming everyone.
That’s a war that should’ve never been allowed to start. Biden couldn’t stopped it and Zelenskyy could’ve stopped it, and Putin should’ve never started it. Everybody’s to blame.
They’re now having a bizarre conversation about how preventing “men” from competing in “women’s sports” is about protecting women from violence and abuse.
They then both congratulate each other on the number of women in their cabinets.
“We’re very eager to help,” Bukele says.
“You are helping us out, and we appreciate it,” Trump tells Bukele, shaking his hand.
Trump claims the previous administration allowed people to enter the country freely, repeating his usual claim that they came from “prisons and mental institutions”.
“They came from the gangs of Venezuela and other places … hundreds of thousands and even millions of them came,” he claims.