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Apr 24, 2026 - World

The White House took swift action after Australian flags were placed on the streets of Washington, D.C., to mark the arrival of King Charles III of Britain.On Friday, Photos shared on social media showed Australian flags lining 17th Street. Freelance reporter Andrew Leyden shared several of the photos on X."After a short lunch break (and geography lesson) DC public work crews have decided to replace the Australian flags with the British flag around the White House," Leyden explained several hours later.

Apr 24, 2026 - World

President Donald Trump has sent envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Islamabad, Pakistan, this weekend for continued negotiations with Iran — but Vice President JD Vance did not plan to attend — something a CNN analyst said was telling in a report on Friday. Vance, who previously attended marathon talks with the Iranians earlier this month, will be on standby and available to join by phone or travel if need be, CNN reported. Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Iran's Speaker of the Parliament, who the White House views as Vance's counterpart and head of the Iranian delegation, will not attend either.The timeline for the ongoing war has remained uncertain, with Trump telling reporters on Thursday "Don't rush me."CNN special correspondent Jamie Gangel signaled that the Iran strategy has appeared to shift within the White House. "Let's be hopeful. Let's be optimistic. It's moving in in the right direction," Gangel said. "I think everyone would like this war to end," she added. "But we've seen a roller coaster here. And in when dealing with the Iranians, I've been told over and over by intelligence experts, they're really good at talking. And they will talk and talk until the cows come home. But getting to substantive negotiations is a whole other matter. So let's see where this goes. I do think it's interesting that Vice President Vance is not going. I think it says something about where we think this is at the moment."Members of Vance's team were reportedly already in Pakistan for the talks with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. Iranians have not yet confirmed if they will meet with the American delegation.

Apr 24, 2026 - World

As Donald Trump’s Iran war drags into its eighth week with no end in sight, there is concern both inside the White House and outside among outside presidential advisers that Trump’s haphazard and scattershot pronouncements are only making things more difficult.And that is leaving White House officials “fatigued” and wondering what each day will bring.According to reporting from MS NOW's Jake Traylor, Jackie Alemany, and Laura Barrón-López, Trump's messaging on the war has shifted consistently — at times, hour by hour. Within 48 hours last weekend, he went from saying Iran had "agreed to everything" toward a potential deal to warning that if Iran did not sign on the dotted line, the "whole country is getting blown up."The whiplash continues relentlessly. He has extended the war's timeline by weeks, offered Iran a handful of deal extensions after saying he likely would not, and most recently indicated there was "no time frame" for the war to conclude, swiftly followed by a threat that Iran has "a matter of days" to reach a deal.White House aides are essentially lying to the public, MS NOW is reporting. A former White House official exposed the dysfunction starkly: "Ninety percent of White House top aides that are speaking publicly right now don't necessarily believe what they're saying, but they know it's satisfying what the president wants them to say. Ultimately, that's their goal. They're not communicators for the public; they are communicators for the president."The result is an administration with no credibility, with that same ex-insider admitting, "From the outside looking in, it is very clear that the goalposts are moving all over the place. That doesn't scream confidence, it doesn't scream that we are anywhere close to a resolution."The volume of Trump's media appearances is also overwhelming staff. Two additional White House officials told MS NOW they are frustrated by the volume of calls the president takes from reporters — in some weeks totaling dozens — and noted the difficulty of keeping up with and defending each of his minute-by-minute pronouncements.The administration lacks even a coherent rationale for the war, the analysts say. "[The White House] hasn't done a successful job of nailing down one reason why we're there. They've sort of thrown every reason out there. If they could narrow it down to one message — clear 'feel the threat, feel the urgency' — I think they'd have better success," a source hopefully suggested."The president is going to dictate when the war ends," one White House official said. "In the meantime, we planned to ramp up the messaging on everything else, but obviously now those are all tied to the war as well."

Apr 24, 2026 - World

Following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s press conference, which was once again notable for his combative performance with the press, MS NOW’s Jonathan Lemire suggested the former Fox News personality appeared to want to avoid addressing Donald Trump’s war of words with Pope Leo XIV about the Iran conflict.Hegseth, who can be counted on to bristle at any suggestion that the Middle East war was unfounded or is being conducted poorly, was asked about the Pope’s word criticizing the war in Iran, which led the president to complain bitterly, with Catholic Vice President JD Vance chiming in to tell the pontiff to stick to matters to “morality.” "We know what our mission is,” Hegseth demurred before adding, “We know what authority we have. We're very clear about that."That brief exchange drew the attention of “Morning Joe’s” Lemire.“Not a lot of news there per se,” he said immediately following the end of the press availability. ”I will say. Secretary Hegseth did acknowledge, though he insisted, that some traffic is making its way through the Strait of Hormuz despite Iran having closed it. He did acknowledge a lot less than they'd like and that it is dangerous, you know, travel there.”“He sort of pulled his punches with the Pope when he was asked a question about the Pope's condemnation of this war. So perhaps the administration has realized you shouldn't escalate their conflict with a representative of the higher power,” he quipped to MS NOW’s David Rohde. - YouTube youtu.be

Apr 24, 2026 - World

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth argued that his so-called Department of War should win the Nobel Peace Prize every year after initiating a military conflict in Iran that has caused death and destabilized the world's oil supply.During a press conference on Friday, TMZ asked Hegseth what he felt while carrying out "this extreme level of violence.""Do you feel like you're on a power trip?" the correspondent wondered. "It's a very TMZ question," Hegseth shot back. "My only thought process is to ensure that our war fighters have everything they need to be successful, defeat and destroy the enemy, and they come home.""Because war is violent," he continued. "War requires doing difficult things."A second TMZ correspondent noted that Hegseth had insisted on calling the Department of Defense the Department of War despite a lack of congressional authorization."Would you consider changing the name again to the Department of Peace since that's what we're all after?" the reporter wondered. "It's a great question, actually," Hegseth replied. "You go from defense to war because you want to be proactive about peace through strength.""In fact, I once did a video about the one institution that you win the Nobel Peace Prize every single year is the United States military," he added, "because we are the guarantor of the safety and security not just of our country but of a lot of people in this world."