Trump said Friday that Hamas must agree to a proposed peace deal for Gaza by 6 p.m. Eastern time on Sunday and threatened the group will suffer more attacks if it doesn’t.
Trump said on social media on Friday: “Every Country has signed on! If this LAST CHANCE agreement is not reached, all HELL, like no one has ever seen before, will break out against Hamas.” The Republican president says, “THERE WILL BE PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.”
The president unveiled the plan alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu earlier this week.
Trump’s proposal would place Gaza under control of a temporary governing committee led by Trump himself. Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair would be involved as well.
Civilians would not be required to evacuate the territory, something that Trump had floated before. Hamas would be required to disarm and release any remaining hostages. Surviving fighters would be allowed to leave.
Hamas said Tuesday that it would study the proposal.
The latest:
JD Vance leads tour group to White House briefing room
Vice President JD Vance made a surprise appearance in the White House briefing room as he led a tour group into the space.
He asked a White House staffer who was testing the podium microphone if press secretary Karoline Leavitt was planning to brief reporters Friday. (She is.)
Vance took a photo of one of the members of his small group standing behind the podium and asked her, “Alrighty, Donna, what do you think about the government shutdown?”
Donna replied, “I can’t say yet. Not in this crowd.”
Afterwards Vance said, “Let’s get these guys out of here before they say something too controversial.”
Vance ignored shouted questions as he left the room, including one from an Associated Press reporter about whether President Donald Trump had met with White House budget director Russell Vought on Thursday about the lapse in government funding.
Trump administration withholds $7.6 billion in clean energy grants
The Trump administration is canceling $7.6 billion in grants that supported hundreds of clean energy projects in 16 states, all of which voted for Democrat Kamala Harris in last year’s presidential election.
The move comes as Trump threatens deep cuts in his fight with congressional Democrats over the government shutdown.
The Energy Department said in a statement Thursday that 223 projects were terminated after a review determined they did not adequately advance the nation’s energy needs or were not economically viable.
Officials did not provide details about which projects are being cut, but said funding came from the Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, and other DOE bureaus.
The cuts are likely to affect battery plants, hydrogen technology projects, upgrades to the electric grid and carbon-capture efforts, among many others, according to the environmental nonprofit Natural Resources Defense Council.
Trump declares ‘war’ on U.S. cities, congressman says
‘This is literally a war on United States cities’ says Chicago congressman
Illinois Rep. Mike Quigley, a Chicago Democrat, criticized the White House’s announcement Friday to withhold $2.1 billion in funding for an extension of the city’s Red Line train, calling it “a very bad day for public transit in the country when it becomes weaponized.”
“This was our prized baby and they know it,” Quigley said in a phone interview with the Associated Press. “This was the most important new transit project in Chicago in 50 years.”
“Trump won some areas of Chicago. There are Republicans living here too. He’s punishing everybody – Democrats, Republicans – just because they don’t care,” said Quigley.
Quigley also criticized escalating immigration enforcement in Chicago.
“This is literally a war on United States cities,” Quigley said. “I’ve been to food pantries, shelters, doctor’s offices, health clinics. People with brown skin are afraid to show up in public.”
Canadian prime minister to meet Trump at the White House
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will visit U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House next week, it was announced on Friday.
The meeting comes ahead of a review of a free trade agreement and as Trump is engaging in 51st state talk again as Canada asks to be included in Trump’s future Golden Dome missile defense program.
In a statement, Carney’s office said the prime minister will travel to Washington on Monday before meeting Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday.
Carney won Canada’s election earlier this year fueled by Trump’s annexation threats and trade war, but he has tried to improve relations ahead of a review of the free trade deal next year.
More than 75% of Canada’s exports go to the U.S. and Canada recently dropped many of its retaliatory tariffs to match U.S. tariff exemptions for goods covered under the United States-Mexico-Canada trade pact, or USMCA.
Supreme Court to consider overturning Hawaii gun law
The Supreme Court said Friday it will consider overturning a Hawaii law that imposes strict regulations on where people can carry guns.
The Trump administration had urged the justices to take the case, arguing the law violates the court’s 2022 ruling that found people have a right to carry firearms in public under the Second Amendment.
The Hawaii law bans guns on private property unless the owner has specifically allowed them. It also prohibits firearms in places like beaches, parks, bars and restaurants that serve alcohol.
State attorneys argue that they’ve already loosened its concealed-carry permit regulations to align with the high court’s 2022 ruling. They say its new restrictions strike a reasonable balance between gun rights and public safety.
A judge blocked the Hawaii law after it was challenged in court by a gun rights group and three people from Maui. But the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals largely reversed that decision and allowed Hawaii to enforce the law.
Trump pauses $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects
White House budget director Russ Vought said the Trump administration will withhold $2.1 billion for Chicago infrastructure projects, expanding funding fights that have targeted Democratic areas during the government shutdown.
The pause affects a long-awaited plan to extend the city’s Red Line train. Vought wrote on social media Friday that the money was “put on hold to ensure funding is not flowing via race-based contracting.”
He made a similar announcement earlier this week involving New York, where Vought said $18 billion for infrastructure would be paused, including funding for a new rail tunnel under the Hudson River.
Trump embraces Project 2025, which he once avoided
Trump is openly embracing the conservative blueprint he tried to distance himself from during the 2024 presidential campaign.
In a post on his Truth Social site Trump announced he would be meeting with his budget chief, “Russ Vought, he of PROJECT 2025 Fame, to determine which of the many Democrat Agencies, most of which are a political SCAM, he recommends to be cut, and whether or not those cuts will be temporary or permanent.”
The comments, posted on Thursday, represented an about-face for Trump, who spent much of last year denouncing Project 2025, The Heritage Foundation’s massive proposed overhaul of the federal government, which was drafted by many of his longtime allies and current and former administration officials.
The federal government was thrown into a shutdown Wednesday, as Democrats held firm to their demands to salvage health care subsidies that Trump and Republicans in Congress have dismissed as something to possibly discuss later.
Trump has seized on the government shutdown as an opportunity to reshape the federal workforce, threatening mass firings of workers and suggesting “irreversible” cuts to programs important to Democrats.
▶ Read more about how both parties have used shutdown threats
What are Trump's chances of the Nobel Prize?
U.S. President Donald Trump’s bid to win the Nobel Peace Prize has drawn added attention to the annual guessing game over who its next laureate will be.
Longtime Nobel watchers say Trump’s prospects remain remote despite a flurry of high-profile nominations and some notable foreign policy interventions for which he has taken personal credit.
Experts say the Norwegian Nobel Committee typically focuses on the durability of peace, the promotion of international fraternity and the quiet work of institutions that strengthen those goals. Trump’s own record might even work against him, they said, citing his apparent disdain for multilateral institutions and his disregard for global climate change concerns.
Still, the U.S. leader has repeatedly sought the Nobel spotlight since his first term, most recently telling United Nations delegates late last month “everyone says that I should get the Nobel Peace Prize.”
A person cannot nominate themselves.
